Remember that thing called the NFL lockout? Neither do fans.

Numbers released by the NFL and Nielsen Media  show an average of 36.6 million viewers watched the four playoff games last weekend, the most ever for an NFL Divisional Weekend and a four percent increase from last season’s previous record (35.1 million). 

Sunday’s New York Giants-Green Bay Packers game on FOX drew and average of 45.1 million viewers to rank as the most-watched Divisional Playoff game ever topping the record set last year by Jets-Patriots (43.5 million viewers). Giants-Packers is the most-watched show since Super Bowl XLV. 

Saturday’s New Orleans Saints-San Francisco 49ers on FOX (35.6 million viewers) and Denver Broncos-New England Patriots on CBS (34.2 million viewers) respectively ranked as the most watched Saturday early and late Divisional Playoff games ever. 

All four Divisional Playoff games averaged more than 30 million viewers for the second consecutive year and accounted for the four most-watched shows on television last week (chart below). 

Most-Watched Shows on Television, Week of Jan. 9-15, 2012

Source: NFL & The Nielsen Company

Maury Brown is the Founder and President of the Business of Sports Network, which includes The Biz of Baseball, The Biz of Football, The Biz of Basketball and The Biz of Hockey, and is a contributor to Forbes SportsMoney blog.. He is available as a freelance writer. Brown's full bio is here. He looks forward to your comments via email and can be contacted through the Business of Sports Network (select his name in the dropdown provided).

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