LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 Chicago’s come-from-behind victory over Green Bay in Saturday’s wild-card round became the first NFL game to have over 30 million viewers on a streaming service.<\/p>\n
The Bears’ 31-27 victory averaged 31.61 million on Amazon Prime Video, according to Nielsen, and broke the previous standard by 4 million. That mark was set on Christmas Day, when Minnesota’s win over Detroit averaged 27.52 million on Netflix.<\/p>\n
Chicago trailed 27-16 with just under seven minutes left in the fourth quarter before Caleb Williams threw a pair of touchdown passes to lead the Bears to their first playoff win<\/a> since the 2010 season. <\/p>\n It was the second year that Prime Video has had a playoff game. Last year’s wild-card game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens averaged 22.07 million.<\/p>\n It was the third season the NFL has streamed the Saturday night wild-card game. The AFC wild-card game between the Miami Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs during the 2023 season averaged 23 million on Peacock.<\/p>\n Four of the five games on Saturday and Sunday delivered increases from last year.<\/p>\n Some of the increase can be attributed to a change in the way viewers are counted. Nielsen began using its Big Data + Panel<\/a> methodology for all events last September with the start of the current television season.<\/p>\n Earlier this year, Nielsen began measuring out-of-home viewers for all states but Hawaii and Alaska, along with including data from smart TVs along with cable and satellite set-top boxes.<\/p>\n Nielsen previously measured only the top 44 media markets, which covered 65% of the country.<\/p>\n The most-watched game of the weekend was the Sunday late-afternoon game between San Francisco and Philadelphia, which averaged 41 million on Fox. That’s a 14% increase over last year’s game between the Eagles and Green Bay in that timeslot.<\/p>\n The 49ers’ 23-19 victory<\/a> was the most-watched wild-card game on any network since the 2021 season, when San Francisco against Dallas averaged 41.5 million on CBS.<\/p>\n Sunday’s game between Buffalo and Jacksonville averaged 32.71 million on CBS, making the Bills’ 27-24 win<\/a> the most-watched early Sunday AFC wild-card game on any network. It was also a 5% jump over last year’s contest between the Bills and Denver.<\/p>\n Fox also had Saturday afternoon’s game between the Los Angeles Rams and Carolina. The Rams’ 34-31 win<\/a> averaged 27.98 million, up 7% from last year’s matchup between the Los Angeles Chargers and Houston on CBS.<\/p>\n It was the most-watched Saturday afternoon wild-card game since NBC averaged 28.30 million for New Orleans against Seattle in 2011.<\/p>\n