For over a year, dating back to the BCS title game last January, television-audience levels for football games have spiraled upward -- and Sunday's NFL conference championship games continued the trend.FOX reported that preliminary national ratings for the Green Bay-Chicago game were the highest ever for an NFC championship game airing in the early broadcast window, and the highest for an NFC title game that ended in regulation in 15 years.
Cut through all the qualifiers and you're left with this: The game was seen by nearly 52 million viewers and posted a 28.1 rating and 50 share of the national audience, a seven-percent rise in ratings, and 11-percent increase in audience from the AFC championship game between Indianapolis and the New York Jets.that aired at the same time last year
Meanwhile, CBS reports that Sunday's AFC championship game between those same Jets and Pittsburgh was the highest-rated game in the 55 largest U.S. markets in 24 years. The game posted a 31.3 rating and 46 share, which is up 10 percent from last year's AFC game and 32 percent from the 2009 game between the Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens.
These numbers augur well for the Super Bowl telecast, to be aired by FOX this year.
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