Fans tuning into NBC’s Sunday Night Football in Week 4 didn’t get a showdown between Patrick Mahomes and Aaron Rodgers, but they did see a surprisingly competitive 23-20 Chiefs win over the Jets (along with a lot of Taylor Swift).
Per NBC, the game averaged 27 million viewers on NBC and Peacock, good for the second-most-watched game of the 2023 NFL season. It ranks just behind the Chiefs’ season-opening loss to the Detroit Lions in the Week 1 Kickoff Game, which averaged 27.5 million viewers on NBC.
NBC is also touting specific streaming data for this game. The game’s average minute audience (AMA) on Peacock was 1.85 million, which NBC is calling its largest for an NFL regular season Sunday game.
Notably, many fans missed the drama in the second half of the game. Viewership peaked at 29.4 million viewers in the 9:30 p.m. ET quarter hour, which came before halftime.
In what is likely the most significant part of the Swift effect for the NFL, NBC also discussed increased metrics for female fans on this Sunday Night Football game. The number of female viewers watching increased by roughly two million, while the F12-17, F18-24, and F35+ demos all increased by at least 24%.
Based on Nielsen Fast National figures (not including Out of Home metrics), viewership among teen girls (age 12-17) spiked 53% from the season-to-date average of the first three weeks of SNF, while the audience among Women aged 18-24 was up 24%, and Women 35+ increased 34%. The collective growth resulted in an approximate viewership increase of more than two million female viewers.
Next week, CBS will get their crack at the Chiefs and the Taylor Swift mania. Kansas City travels to Minnesota to take on the Vikings at 4:25 p.m. ET. Jim Nantz, Tony Romo, and Tracy Wolfson will call the game, taking place in the second half of the Week 5 doubleheader.
NBC will have another viewership magnet of a game on Sunday Night Football in Week 5, with the San Francisco 49ers hosting the Dallas Cowboys.
