Vikings’ Last-Second Victory Scores Big Ratings Win For Fox; ‘Wisdom’ Ends Even
Forget all the controversies, all the NFL in-fighting, all the grinding games — Sunday’s NFC Divisional playoff game between the Minnesota Vikings and New Orleans Saints was what football is all about.
A remarkable 61-yard touchdown pass from Vikings quarterback Case Keenum to receiver Stefon Diggs as time ran out dropped jaws all over America but made some NFL history too. Securing his team’s first trip to the NFC Championship Game in eight years, Diggs’ play is the only winning touchdown after time had expired in NFL playoff history.
Victory also came to Fox last night as the Vikings’ 29-24 win bled into Sunday’s primetime with a massive 10.5/35 rating and 34.5 million viewers in the 7 PM slot in fast affiliates. Nailing a 5.6/19 overall among adults 18-49 and 17.3 million viewers, the net is topping its non-adjusted results win of last week with the NFL Wild Card Game by 33%. When the final numbers were in, NBC went on to win January 7 with the Golden Globes and a 4.1/14.
We will see an adjustment for last night later, but right now, with an 8:30 PM ET start, Fox’s Sunday comedy lineup of The Simpsons (3.5/12), Bob’s Burgers (2.2/8), Family Guy (1.7/6) and The Last Man on Earth (1.3/5) all hit season highs with that NFL juice.
Over on CBS, 60 Minutes (0.8/3) and the finale of the now-shuttered Jeremy Piven drama Wisdom of the Crowd (0.7/3) were even with last week. NCIS: Los Angeles (1.0/4) and Madam Secretary (0.7.3) saw a little bit of traction with respective rises of 11% and 17%. ABC’s double shot of Shark Tank saw the 9 PM (1.3/4) airing even with last week’s fast affiliate, which went up a tenth in the final numbers, and the 10 PM (1.2/4) airing down a tenth. At 8 PM, America’s Funniest Home Videos (1.2/4) was down 14% from last week’s season high to see its second-best 18-49 results this cycle. However, the Disney-owned net gets to claim one new high as the 9 PM Shark Tank’s 5.3 million viewers was the biggest total audience the entrepreneurial reality show was seen this cycle so far.
After a 7-9 PM Dateline (0.6/2), NBC played the 2014 Ice Cube-Kevin Hart flick Ride Along (0.6/2).
Have a good MLK Day and do the right thing today.
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