The AFC, NFC Championship Games Had Disappointing TV Ratings

The NFC Championship Game was worse, averaging just a couple million viewers more than last year's game between the Commanders and Eagles, but significantly less than the aforementioned AFC Championship Game in the same timeslot. The Seahawks-Rams game this past Sunday averaged 46.1 million viewers.

Why the drop?

There are many factors that play a role in ratings rising and falling, but there are a few obvious candidates.

For starters, the absence of the Kansas City Chiefs and the legion of fans brought over by Taylor Swift's relationship with Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce might have created a slight gap in the ratings. It's worth noting that the massive boom in ratings we've seen over the past few years came right as their relationship went public.

Another factor could be the winter weather that affected much of the United States. While common sense might suggest fans would watch sports with nothing else to do all day, much of that time might have been spent simply battling the elements.

But Awful Announcing suggested that a simple change in the Nielsen out-of-home measurements might be at play.

"It is certainly notable that the NFL’s five-year low comes in the first year that the conference championship games included Nielsen’s expanded out-of-home measurements (which began February 2025), and the new Big Data + Panel methodology (which began September 2025), both of which have generally served to increase viewership figures for live sports compared to prior years. All thing being equal, it is possible last weekend’s viewership was more than a five-year low point," they noted.

Will the Super Bowl ratings be higher or lower than last year?