Patriots-Broncos is Second Most-Watched AFC Conference Championship Game in 39 Years

CBS Sports’ coverage of the New England-Denver 2016 AFC Championship on Sunday, Jan. 24 dominated the day, with a mammoth 53.3 million total viewers in the 3:06-6:40 p.m. ET block. Comparably, this is now the second most-watched AFC Championship game on any network in 39 years behind only the New York Jets-Pittsburgh AFC Championship game on CBS on January 23, 2011 (54.9 million from 6:42-9:54).

New England-Denver also is the most watched early-window AFC or NFC Conference Championship game on any network in 39 years (dating back to as CBS records go; 1978). In addition, the game was the most-watched and highest-rated television program since last year’s Super Bowl coverage. The New England-Denver game earned a fast-national Live + Same-Day average household rating/share of 29.3/51,which is the highest rating for the AFC Championship game on any network in 30 years (1/12/86; 32.4/56; New England-Miami; NBC).