The NFL conference championship games on Sunday proved a big TV draw with both the Denver Broncos-New England Patriots and the San Francisco 49ers-Seattle Seahawks match-ups drawing more than 50 million viewers.
The evening 49ers-Seahawks NFC Championship Game on Fox averaged 56 million viewers to rank as the fifth most-watched conference championship game ever.
Earlier in the day, the Broncos’ win over the Patriots became the third most-watched AFC Championship game ever, averaging 51.3 million viewers on CBS.
The NFC game was up 33 percent from last year (42 million viewers, San Francisco-Atlanta) when it aired in the afternoon, while the AFC matchup grew 8 percent compared to its 2013 evening game (47.7 million viewers, New England-Baltimore).
The two games combined to average 53.7 million viewers, to tie 2011 as the most-watched championship Sunday in more than 30 years. — Andrea Morabito