Over 42.7 million individuals tuned in to witness the exciting victory of the Kansas City Chiefs over the Buffalo Bills.

• The NFL playoff game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Buffalo Bills drew a record-breaking audience of 51.6 million viewers, with one of the most iconic endings in NFL history.
• CBS Sports said the contest is the most-watched divisional playoff game since 2017.

The National Football League experienced a five-year high in viewership for a divisional playoff game, thanks to the impressive performances of Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen.

On Sunday, the Kansas City Chiefs' 42-36 overtime win against the Buffalo Bills drew an average of 42.7 million viewers, with the game peaking at 51.6 million viewers. The Chiefs-Bills game was one of the most memorable and drama-filled playoff endings in NFL history.

With one minute left in the game, Allen led a six-play, 75-yard drive to give the Bills a 36-33 lead. Mahomes responded with a three-play, 45-yard drive, tying the game at 36. In overtime, Mahomes led an eight-play, 75-yard drive and threw the game-winning touchdown to Travis Kelce, advancing the Chiefs to the AFC title game.

Since 2017, the most-watched divisional postseason game on any network was the one telecasted by CBS Sports, which had an average of 48.5 million viewers.

The Chiefs-Bills game drew more viewers than the peak of the San Francisco 49ers vs. Cowboys game on Jan. 16, which had 50.2 million viewers. In comparison, Sunday's contest between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New Orleans Saints was up 18% from the previous year's game, which averaged 36.3 million viewers.

On Saturday, the Cincinnati Bengals won their playoff game against the Tennessee Titans, with an average of 30.7 million viewers and a peak of 38.3 million.

The NFL playoff game between the 49ers and the Packers on Fox drew 36.9 million viewers on Saturday. This represents a 40% increase over the comparable game last year, which featured the Bills and the Baltimore Ravens and averaged 26.3 million viewers.

On Sunday, NBC Sports' contest showcased the Rams' game-winning field goal against the Bucs. The network announced that the game drew an average of 40 million total viewers across all its platforms, including streaming. Out of this total, 38.1 million viewers watched the game exclusively on NBC-TV.

Last weekend, during the NFL's four playoff games, companies spent a combined $178 million on ads, according to metrics firm EDO.

During sporting events, companies and networks can determine an ad's value by utilizing EDO's analytics, which monitor brand and product searches and sales in conjunction with ad airings.

Advertisers experienced a 13 million increase in online searches due to the NFL games, as stated by EDO.

Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC.