The Green Bay Packers’ last-gasp win against the New York Giants on December 4 attracted the highest US television rating for a regular-season NFL game since 2007, on US network Fox.
Fox, citing audience measurement company Nielsen Media Research, said its coverage of the game generate a 17.6 rating, with 29.8 million viewers. The game had a dramatic finish, with the Packers’ Mason Crosby converting a field goal in the final second to secure a 38-35 victory.
The 17.6 rating – representing the percentage of television homes that were tuned into the programme – was the highest for a regular-season NFL game on US network television since a Pittsburgh Steelers v New England Patriots game registered an 18.4 rating on the CBS network on December 6, 2007.
Fox said the Packers-Giants game was its own highest-rated broadcast for a regular-season NFL game since December 3, 2006, when a Dallas Cowboys v New York Giants game attracted a 17.8 rating.
The work stoppage in the NFL earlier this year, which was resolved with a new 10-year collective bargaining agreement before the start of this season, does not appear to have damaged domestic audience ratings. The November 24 game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Baltimore Ravens was watched by an average of 10.7 million viewers on league-owned, pay-television channel NFL Network, the highest audience in the channel’s eight-year history.