KANSAS CITY, Mo. — First, the bad news. Ratings for Kansas City Chiefs games in its home market dipped slightly from 2020 to 2021.
However, the 4% decline — from an average rating of 47.1 to 45.3 — still positions the Chiefs as the second-best market for local TV ratings, according to a report from Sports Business Journal.
Only Buffalo, which overtook Kansas City as its in-market rating climbed from 42.2 to an NFL-best 47.2 this season, tuned in at a higher rate.
Chiefs Kingdom topped the list during the 2020 season.
Two other markets, Milwaukee (Green Bay Packers) and New Orleans (Saints), posted an average rating above 40 for the 2021 regular season.
The Los Angeles Chargers and Dallas Cowboys had the largest ratings gains this season, jumping 25% and 23%, respectively.
But the Chargers’ average rating remains only 8.5, which ranks 30th and the Cowboys was 29.5.
The New York Jets (7.1) and Giants (8.4) were the only teams with lower local-market ratings, but the Houston Texans saw the largest decline year-over-year with ratings plunging 18% from 15.0 to 12.3.
After a strong weekend of ratings for the Wild Card round, the NFL’s Divisional round of playoffs delivered even higher ratings — unsurprising given that all four games were decided on the final play.
The Buffalo Bills at Kansas City had an average audience of more than 42.7 million viewers and peaked with more than 51.5 million viewers in the closing minutes, according to Yahoo! News.
It was the most-watched Divisional playoff game in the NFL in the last five years and the most-watched TV program on any network since Super Bowl LV, Tampa Bay’s win last February over the Chiefs.
The rating for the Kansas City market was 55.3 with an 85 share, meaning 85% of all TVs in use during the game were tuned to Chiefs-Bills. That figure peaked at a 90 share from 8:45 to 9 p.m., according to John Ourand of the Sports Business Journal.
Numbers for the Buffalo market are expected to be released later Tuesday.
Preliminary ratings had the Buccaneers’ loss to the Los Angeles Rams as the second most-watched game last weekend (38.1 million) followed by San Francisco at Green Bay (36.9 million) and Cincinnati at Tennessee (30.8 million), according to Show Buzz Daily.
Here are the local ratings for those games (rating/share):
- Milwaukee, 44.8/78
- Cincinnati, 38.9/75
- Nashville, 36.0/67
- Tampa/St. Petersburg, 33.1/67
- San Francisco/Oakland, 28.9/67
- Los Angeles, 20.4/60
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