The Minnesota Vikings at New Orleans Saints game telecast on WITI-TV (Channel 6) in Milwaukee was the highest-rated non-Packers championship game here since at least 1988.

The telecast likely is the highest-rated non-Packers championship game ever on Milwaukee TV. Complete records are unavailable before 1988.

Vikings-Saints had a rating of 47.4, or an estimated 427,453 households in Milwaukee, where each ratings point is about 9,018 households.

The rating for Vikings-Saints in Milwaukee was 10% higher than last season's Super Bowl between Pittsburgh and Arizona on WTMJ-TV (Channel 4). In fact, Vikings-Saints had a better rating than nine of the last 11 Super Bowls in this market.

Nationally, Vikings-Saints was a huge hit as well, fueled in part by BretTV. The game had 57.9 million viewers, making it the most-watched conference championship game since the 1981 NFC title game (featuring "The Catch" by Dwight Clark) between Dallas and host San Francisco, which had 68.7 million viewers on Jan. 10, 1982 on CBS.

The New York Jets at Indianapolis game Sunday afternoon on CBS had 46.9 million viewers, the most-watched AFC title game in 24 years - since New England at Miami on Jan. 12, 1986 (47.5 million).

Among 56 metered markets, Milwaukee delivered the third-highest rating for this year's NFC title game, behind only New Orleans (63.2) and Minneapolis (58.7). Kansas City was in fourth place with 40.4. The metered market average was 33.3.

The audience for the game swelled in overtime, when the Saints kicked a field goal to win, 31-28. From 9:15 to 9:30 p.m., the rating was 54.8, or 494,186 households in the Milwaukee area. The rating for the first quarter-hour of the telecast starting at 5:30 p.m. in Milwaukee was 40.0, or 360,720 households.

Vikings-Saints is the highest-rated non-Packers playoff in any round (excluding the Super Bowl) since Jan. 5, 1997, when Carolina beat Dallas in a divisional playoff, which had a 51.2 rating in Milwaukee. That was the season the Packers beat the Panthers in the NFC championship and went on to win Super Bowl XXXI against New England.

In the Milwaukee market, a total of 64% of the sets on at the time were tuned to Vikings-Saints.

The telecast of the Jets-Colts game on WDJT-TV (Channel 58) had a rating of 31.0, or 279,558 households in the Milwaukee area.