2022 NFL Week 3 viewership: Fox turns in a strong performance, MNF delivers another impressive audience

After an impressive first two weeks, September will end on a mixed note for the NFL.

Fox’s late afternoon national window led the way this week, with 26.399 million viewers tuning in. Packers-Bucs was the most common game aired across the country, with some markets getting Rams-Cardinals and Falcons-Seahawks. That’s down from last week’s national window on CBS (27.39 million for Cowboys-Bengals), but up from last year’s national window on Fox (22.60 million for Bucs-Rams).

https://twitter.com/FOXSportsPR/status/1574784536105426944

Earlier in the day, Fox drew 13.804 million for their regional window (Ravens-Patriots, Raiders-Titans, etc). That’s down a tick from last week’s on CBS (Patriots-Steelers, 14.08 million), but up from last year’s regional slot (12.63 million, Bears-Browns, Saints-Patriots, etc) on Fox.

.@NFLonCBS Continues its Strong Start, Delivering Best September Viewership Since 2015 pic.twitter.com/z4wNhQoBn3

— CBS Sports PR (@CBSSportsGang) September 27, 2022

CBS had the singleheader in Week 3 and averaged 14.679 million viewers (Chiefs-Colts, Bills-Dolphins, etc). That’s down from last week’s singleheader on Fox (16.23 million, Bucs-Saints, etc), and up  a tick from last year’s on CBS (14.33 million, Chargers-Chiefs, Dolphins-Raiders, etc).

Sunday Night Football’s 49ers-Broncos matchup averaged 17.802 million viewers on NBC and 18.9 million in total once streaming is baked in. That’s down from both last week (20.8 million total, 19.545 on NBC proper for Bears-Packers), and last year (19.69 million for Packers-49ers).

pic.twitter.com/Eca10W8jSy

— NBC Sports PR (@NBCSportsPR) September 27, 2022

Amazon’s second exclusive Thursday Night Football game drew 11.029 million viewers on Prime Video and local stations in Cleveland and Pittsburgh. That’s down from Week 2 (13 million), but up from Week 3 of TNF last year (7.39 million on NFL Network alone).

https://twitter.com/ESPNPR/status/1574936589079150592

Finally, ESPN drew another big number for its Monday Night Football broadcast, which aired on three networks. 10.175 million watched Cowboys-Giants on ABC, 7.737 million watched on ESPN, and another 1.429 million watched the ManningCast on ESPN2. Put it all in a blender, and that’s 19.341 million viewers for the three networks, up from last year (which didn’t have an ABC broadcast) and each half of last week’s doubleheader. Compared to Week 1 of this season, which also got the triple network treatment and hit a multi-year high, MNF was down.

[Data via ShowBuzz Daily, Sports Media Watch]