Pittsburgh Steelers outside linebacker T.J. Watt, center, celebrates with fans after returning a fumble for a touchdown during the first half of an NFL wild-card playoff football game against the Kansas City Chiefs, Sunday, Jan. 16, 2022, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Colin E. Braley)NEW YORK (AP) — The NFL wild card games and the NCAA football championship gathered millions of people in front of their television sets on a cold winter weekend.
An average of 30.5 million people watched the NFL's wild card games on television and digitally over the weekend, which the league said was up 21% over the same games in 2021.
Meanwhile, Georgia's victory over Alabama for the NCAA football championship last week reached 22.3 million viewers, the Nielsen company said. That allowed the NCAA to rebound from the lackluster ratings of the New Year's Eve semifinals, which featured two non-competitive games.
Boosted by their wild card games, CBS averaged 10 million viewers and NBC had 6.8 million in prime time last week. ABC averaged 2.7 million, Fox had 1.7 million, Univision had 1.6 million, Ion Television had 1 million and Telemundo had 900,000.
ESPN averaged 3.69 million viewers in prime time, Fox News Channel had 2.24 million, MSNBC had 1.2 million, HGTV had 1.08 million and Hallmark had 978,000.
ABC's “World News Tonight” won the evening news race, averaging 9 million viewers. NBC's “Nightly News” had 8.1 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 5.8 million.
For the week of Jan. 10-16, the 20 most popular programs in prime time, their viewerships and networks:
1. NFL Wild Card: Pittsburgh at Kansas City, NBC, 28.94 million.
2. NFL Wild Card: New England at Buffalo, CBS, 26.37.
3. “Wild Card Post Game” (Sunday), CBS, 25.5 million.
4. NCAA Football Championship: Georgia vs. Alabama, ESPN, 22.26 million.
5. “Wild Card Pre Game” (Sunday), NBC, 19.64 million.
6. “NCAA Championship Post Game,” ESPN, 18.37 million.
7. “NCAA Championship Pre Game,” ESPN, 13.78 million.
8. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 11.29 million.
9. “FBI,” CBS, 8.45 million.
10. “Young Sheldon,” CBS, 7.7 million.
11. “Chicago Fire,” NBC, 7.41 million.
12. “Chicago Med,” NBC, 7.33 million.
13. “Ghosts,” CBS, 6.48 million.
14. “Blue Bloods,” CBS, 6.44 million.
15. “FBI: International,” CBS, 6.29 million.
16. “Chicago PD,” NBC, 5.81 million.
17. "Magnum, P.I., CBS, 5.77 million.
18. “FBI: Most Wanted,” CBS, 5.56 million.
19. “United States of Al,” CBS, 5.48 million.
20. “911: Lone Star,” Fox, 5.03 million.
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