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[01/08/17 - 12:41 PM]
Raiders-Texans Wild Card Game Delivers Total Live Audience of 25,632,000 Viewers
ESPN spins the numbers for Saturday, January 7.
[via press release from ESPN]

Raiders-Texans Wild Card Game Delivers Total Live Audience of 25,632,000 Viewers

On TV: Fourth Most-Watched Saturday Afternoon NFL Wild Card Game among Viewers in 16 years

The Saturday afternoon NFL Wild Card game on ESPN and ABC - a Houston Texans 27-14 victory over the Oakland Raiders - delivered a total live audience (TV + Streaming) of 25,632,000 average viewers according to Nielsen fast nationals.

Raiders-Texans is up from last year's Wild Card game on ESPN and ABC (Kansas City Chiefs vs. Houston Texans), which delivered a total live audience of 25,599,000 average viewers. It is also up 14 percent from the 2015 Wild Card game on ESPN (Arizona Cardinals vs. Carolina Panthers), which delivered a total live audience of 22,454,000 average viewers.

On ESPN and ABC, the game delivered 25,341,000 viewers and a 14.6 US household rating. The game rating peaked during the 5:45-6 p.m. quarter hour with 28,218,000 viewers and a 16.3 household rating. On TV, this is the fourth most-watched Saturday afternoon NFL Wild Card game among viewers in 16 years.

ESPN's streaming audience for Raiders-Texans attracted an additional average minute audience of 210,000 viewers across the ESPN and ESPN Deportes streams, a 52 percent gain year-over-year. Between the two streams there were 466,000 viewers who watched 45.2 million live minutes - up 22 and 58 percent year-over-year, respectively. Viewers stayed with the streams for an average of 97 minutes, which is the highest number for an NFL game on WatchESPN this season and up 30 percent year-over-year.

The game delivered a combined 17.8 television rating in San Francisco (this market includes Oakland and San Jose) - the highest rating in this market for a Saturday afternoon Wild Card game since 2007 - and a 31.2 rating in Houston. The top 10 metered markets (not including those of the competing teams): Norfolk (24.8), Richmond-Petersburg (24.1), Sacramento (22.8), Atlanta (22.2), Kansas City (21.7), Las Vegas (21.1), San Antonio (19.6), Austin and Portland (19.3) and Charlotte (18.9).

Please note: Final ratings/viewership for Raiders-Texans will be available later this week. Total live audience includes ESPN and ESPN Deportes (TV + Streaming) and ABC TV. Comparisons above are based on the final ratings/viewership for Chiefs-Texans (in 2016) and Cardinals-Panthers (in 2015). ESPN and ABC are reporting audience data for the Wild Card game the way it was sold to advertisers, as a gross rating across both networks.

ESPN's MNF Crew to Call NFL Pro Bowl on January 29

ESPN's Monday Night Football team will conclude its 2016 NFL season on Sunday, January 29, with the NFL Pro Bowl. ESPN and ESPN Deportes will televise the game at 7:50 p.m. ET from Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida. Photos via ESPN Images.





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