Bills vs. Chiefs Draws Record-Setting Audience for Divisional Weekend

Sunday's game between the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs became the most-watched Divisional Round contest on record.

In case it wasn't obvious enough before, the NFL is the undisputed king of television.

The league that constantly pulls in millions of viewers set yet another record for the Divisional Round games last weekend. In fact, the NFL issued a press release Tuesday confirming this was the most-watched Divisional Round on record, with each game pulling 40 million viewers on average. 

Of that quartet, Sunday night's game between the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs was easily the most-watched, as one might expect.

© Mark J. Rebilas, USA TODAY

According to CBS Sports PR, the game averaged a whopping 50.393 million viewers, becoming the most-viewed Divisional Round game on record and first to surpass 50 million average viewers. The game, which peaked at 56.250 million viewers, became the most-watched program on any network since Super Bowl LVII, as well as the most-streamed live event ever on Paramount+.

Naturally, the Bills' loss also drew the NFL's largest average audience so far this season, smashing the record of 41.76 million set by the Thanksgiving game between the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Commanders.

The other three Divisional Round games drew massive audiences as well, but none came close to Bills-Chiefs. 

Sunday afternoon's game between the Detroit Lions and Tampa Bay Buccaneers averaged 37.18 million viewers on NBC, Saturday night's game between the San Francisco 49ers and Green Bay Packers averaged 37.5 million on Fox, and Saturday afternoon's game between the Baltimore Ravens and Houston Texans averaged 31.76 million on ABC and ESPN.

Is Bills' Super Bowl Window Closed?

The Bills undoubtedly benefit from a financial standpoint by generating such massive audiences, but unfortunately, it also means that millions of people saw their demise in real time.