Ratings: Chiefs/Bills OT Thriller Draws Nearly 43 Million Viewers

Matt Webb Mitovich
·1 min read

CBS’ broadcast of the wild, rollercoaster, overtime NFL divisional playoff game between the Chiefs and Bills averaged 42.7 million total viewers on Sunday night (per final numbers)– up 18 percent from the comparable Bucs/Saints game on Fox a year ago.

That grand total marks a five-year high for a divisional playoff game, and its audience peaked at 51.7 million.

More from TVLine

Leading out of that (starting a bit after 10/9c), the specially scheduled kickoff to NCIS: Hawai’i‘s two-parter (concluding tonight) retained 9.9 million viewers (along with a 2.2 demo rating).

Elsewhere on Sunday, opposite that very big game:

ABC | AFV (4.7 mil/0.4) and The Rookie (2.7 mil/0.3) each dipped a tenth, while Celeb Wheel of Fortune (4 mil/0.4) and Supermarket Sweep (2.2 mil/0.3) both slipped two tenths ahead of next week’s season finales.

THE CW | Legends of the Hidden Temple (230K/0.0) dipped a tenth with its freshman finale.

NBC | The Secret Life of Pets drew 1.4 mil/0.3.

Want scoop on any of the above shows? Email InsideLine@tvline.com and your question may be answered via Matt’s Inside Line.

The Live+Same Day numbers reported in our ratings column do not reflect a show’s overall performance, given the increased use of delayed playback via DVR and streaming platforms, plus out-of-home viewing. These numbers (Nielsen fast nationals, unless denoted as finals) instead aim to simply illustrate trends or superlatives. Steve Harvey is not a judge or lawyer and merely offers an alternative forum of dispute resolution.

Launch Gallery: TV Shows Ending in 2022: <I>This Is Us, black-ish, Animal Kingdom, Expanse, The Walking Dead</I> and 25 Others

Get more from TVLine.com: Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Newsletter