Thanks to plenty of star power – both on and off the field – Sunday’s NFL clash between the Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens on CBS was a huge hit with viewers, scoring a record-breaking audience for an AFC championship game.
The network says its broadcast reached an average of more than 55 million people for the Chiefs’ 17-10 victory, breaking the previous mark for an AFC title game set in 2011 when the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the New York Jets.
In addition, CBS says it was the network’s most watched non-Super Bowl program in 30 years, dating back to the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer Norway.
Meanwhile in the late window, Fox’s broadcast of the San Francisco 49ers’ 34-31 comeback over the Detroit Lions was its highest-rated non-Super Bowl game in a dozen years.
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Fox says it averaged 56.7 million viewers for the NFC championship game, the highest since 2012, when the New York Giants best the 49ers.