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The NFL just completed their Divisional Playoffs this past weekend and the NFL got exactly what it wanted, big ratings and competitive and entertaining football games.
The NFL games dominated the television ratings this weekend. One prime time example of this was the Saturday Night NFL game on NBC at 8p, which had 29.27 million viewers from the adult age range of 18-49 years old, which accounted for almost 30% of the market share during that time frame. The Broncos game on Sunday evening turned out to be the highest rated NFL game of the season on any network.
Not only were the ratings for the NFL games humungous, but each game was decided by 7 points or less. Actually to be even more accurate, 3 of the games were decided by 7 points and 1 game was decided by 6 points. This means that the viewers needed to watch the entire game, because they were all close contests. The Seahawk game started out as a blowout, with the
Panthers up 31-0 in the first half, however the Seahawks came soaring back in the second half, and were within one score from tying the game.
Probably the best game of the weekend was the Green Bay Packers against the Arizona Cardinals. The The Packers were winning late in the 4^th quarter, but the Cardinals put together a 14 play 80 drive that ended with them scoring a touchdown with just under 4 minutes left in the game. The Cardinals later tacked on a field goal to extend their lead to 7 points. Then the crazy part began with Aaron Rodgers converting a 4th and 20 from their own 4 yard line, with a 60 yard Hail Mary to mid-field.
Then with 4 seconds left on the clock Rodgers made the impossible happen again with another Hail Mary that was miraculously caught by Jeff Janis in the Cardinals endzone to tie the game, and send it to overtime. However in over time the Cardinals extinguished the Packers hopes with the first play of overtime, where Larry Fitzgerald took a short pass play for 75 yards, and then 2 plays later scored the game winning touchdown.
This was a terrific weekend for the NFL, and even better weekend for the pay per head industry. People are not only watching these games, but they are turning to pay per head websites to place wagers on these games. Not only are gamblers able to bet on the spreads of these playoff games, but websites like AcePerHead.com offer pay per head customers thousands of different props, live wagers, parlays, teasers, fantasy football wagers, and reverse bets that players can place on each game. As the playoffs continue, both the viewership and wagering will continue to increase.
