CBS, 'Hawaii 5-0' score big with AFC Championship football game

CBS's post AFC championship game special broadcast of "Hawaii Five-0" delivers series highs in viewers and key demos 

CBS's post AFC Championship Game special broadcast of "Hawaii Five-0" delivered series highs for the freshman drama in viewers and key demographics, according to Nielsen time adjusted fast national ratings for Sunday, Jan. 23.

At 10:13 p.m., the special "Hawaii Five-0" broadcast delivered an 11.2/19 in households with 19.23m viewers, 4.3 rating in adults 18-34, 5.6 rating in adults 18-49 and 6.7 rating in adults 25-54.

Compared to "The Mentalist" Sunday special broadcast that aired after the AFC Championship Game in 2009 (Ravens at Steelers), "Hawaii Five-0" was up +12 percent in households (from 10.0/17), +16 percent in adults 25-54 (from 5.8), +22 percent in adults 18-49 (from 4.6), +39 percent in adults 18-34 (from 3.1) while adding +2.91m viewers (from 16.32m, +18 percent).

"Hawaii Five-0" also set a new DVR playback record as live plus 7-day playback boosted the season's top freshman series by an additional +3.90 million viewers during week 16, according to Nielsen live plus 7-day results for the week ending Jan. 9.

The +3.90 million additional viewers increased "Hawaii Five-0's" week 16 viewer average from its live plus same day audience of 11.02 million to 14.92 million. Among adults 18-49, "Hawaii Five-0" gained an additional +1.2 ratings points, hiking its week 16 rating from 2.9 to 4.1.

"The NFL on CBS" scores with highest rating for AFC Championship game in 24 years

CBS Sports' coverage of the 2011 AFC Championship Game featuring the Pittsburgh Steelers defeating the New York Jets on Sunday, Jan. 23 (6:45-10 p.m., ET), earned an average overnight household rating/share of 31.3/46. This was the highest rating in the metered markets for the AFC Championship in 24 years (1987, 31.9 on NBC, Denver at Cleveland). The Steelers-Jets rating was up 32 percent from a 23.8/37 in the comparable late-game window in 2009 with Pittsburgh defeating Baltimore and coverage was up 10 percent compared to its early game broadcast of last year's AFC Championship Game, which saw Indianapolis beat the New York Jets (28.4/50).

The AFC Championship Game rating peaked at a 33.1/46 from 9-9:30 p.m., ET.

"The NFL on CBS's coverage of AFC Championship is most watched ever

CBS Sports' coverage of the 2011 AFC Championship game featuring the Pittsburgh Steelers defeating the New York Jets on Sunday, Jan. 23 (6:40-9:54 p.m., ET) was the most-watched ever, seen by an average of 54.850 million viewers (Persons 2+). The previous high was in 1982 for San Diego vs. Cincinnati (51.620 million viewers; 1/10/82; NBC).

The AFC Championship game earned a fast-national live + same-day average household rating/share of 28.3/43, up 29 percent from the comparable late window in 2009, (22.0/34; Baltimore-Pittsburgh) and up 8 percent from last year's early window (N.Y. Jets-Indianapolis; 26.3/47). This year's 28.3/43 was the highest-rated AFC Championship Game in 14 years since a 28.5/47 in 1997 (Jacksonville-New England; 1/12/97; NBC)

The AFC Championship game rating peaked at a 29.9/43 with an average of 56.609 million viewers from 9-9:30 p.m., ET.