Kansas City Chiefs defensive tackle Omarr Norman-Lott Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images
By Drew Lerner on

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NFL viewership continues to be historically strong on account of Nielsen’s new Big Data + Panel measurements and expanded out-of-home viewing.

A Super Bowl rematch between the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs led the way in Week 2, averaging 33.8 million viewers in the late-afternoon window on Fox. It was the most-watched regular season Sunday NFL telecast ever on Fox, and the largest audience for any television event since the Super Bowl in February. Earlier in the day, Fox averaged 20.7 million viewers during the regional window, which primarily featured an overtime thriller between the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys.

Over on CBS, the network’s singleheader window averaged 15 million viewers for a slate that featured Bills-Jets, Rams-Titans, Patriots-Dolphins, Browns-Ravens, and Jaguars-Bengals in the early window.

Sunday Night Football on NBC averaged 21.5 million viewers for the Atlanta Falcons’ win over the Minnesota Vikings. The game marked the most-watched Week 2 SNF game since 2016 (23 million for Packers-Vikings).

Lastly, Game 1 of ESPN’s Monday Night Football doubleheader averaged 17.4 million viewers as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers won a tight game against the Houston Texans. The game was also simulcast on ABC. Per ESPN, it was the most-watched Week 2 game on the network since 2008.

Game 2 of the doubleheader, featuring the Los Angeles Chargers and Las Vegas Raiders, which aired only on ESPN, averaged 9.7 million viewers for the 10 p.m. ET kickoff. Accounting for the six-hour window that featured both games, ESPN averaged 13.5 million viewers for the night.

As previously reported, Thursday Night Football‘s season debut on Prime Video set a record for the streamer.

It is important to reiterate, Nielsen’s new methodology creates very favorable conditions for historical comparisons. Multi-year highs should be the expectation for all live sports properties throughout the next 12 months. Anything less would be cause for great concern among leagues and networks.

Nevertheless, the NFL is still putting up monster numbers. Whether they’re truly up or down from previous years is aside the point; the league is far and away the most popular and valuable programming on television, and nothing else is close.

About Drew Lerner

Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.

View all posts by Drew Lerner