There was plenty of excitement that surrounded NFL Championship Sunday this past weekend. Four of the most talented teams in the league squared off for the rights to a spot in Super Bowl 2024, and there were story lines to go along with each game that added to the intrigue.

And based on the early viewership numbers put out by FOX Sports, it may be one of the most-watched days of football that we have seen in some time.

NFL Sees Increase In Viewership Numbers For 2024 Playoffs

49ers scored 27 straight to take the lead against the Lions pic.twitter.com/MewyehPwUs

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) January 29, 2024

CBS’s numbers have not yet been released for the early window, but the game between the Chiefs and Ravens wound up being an upset after a week of build up and anticipation. It is more than likely that this year’s game brought in more viewership than last year’s AFC Championship, especially with the added angle of Taylor Swift being present.

But FOX has run their count, and the results are unsurprising. The 49ers are always a big draw, and have been a part of some of the most-watched NFC Championship games of the last 20 years. But perhaps the biggest story of the day and reason for a boost in viewership was the Lions making their first Championship Game appearance since 1991, which had both the city of Detroit and the rest of the country captivated with their story.

Lions vs. 49ers Broadcast Sets Recent Records

NFL Ratings: #49ers vs. #Lions NFC Championship Game on Fox Sports had 56.7M viewers.

That’s up 19% over last year and is tracking to be Fox’s best NFC Championship TV performance since 2012.

NFL is https://t.co/6FfmChc2OJ pic.twitter.com/B5pOVszeD8

— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) January 29, 2024

It would up being a classic contest, with the 49ers mounting a 17-point comeback in the second half to dash Detroit’s storybook ending. And based on the numbers, more people tuned it to watch than in any conference championship game since 2012. The final number came out to be 56.6 million, shy of the 57.6 million that watched the Giants take down the 49ers 12 years ago.

Should the numbers remain the same after final tallies, then it would be the 3rd most-watched NFL Conference Championship game since at least 2002.

By comparison, last year’s NFC Championship game between the 49ers and Eagles brought in 50.2 million, while Bengals and Chiefs brought in 47.8 million on the AFC side.

93 of the top 100 broadcasts in the United States during the 2023 calendar were NFL games. Of the other seven broadcasts, three were college football games, and another was the program that was shown immediately following Super Bowl 2023.