Tag: TV ratings

NFL sees second highest TV ratings on record for regular season

Posted on | by Field Level Media

The NFL closed the regular season with an average audience of 18.7 million per game across TV and digital, the league’s second-highest mark since Nielsen began tracking in 1988 and just shy of the 1989 record of 19.0 million.

The 2025 figure marked a 10% rise from last season (17.5 million) and 7% from 2023, per league and Nielsen data.

Measurement changes helped widen the lens. Nielsen’s newer Big Data + Panel system was used all season, and out-of-home viewing is now counted nationwide (except Alaska and Hawaii) alongside data from smart TVs and traditional set-top boxes. Earlier methods covered only the top 44 markets.

Every weekly package climbed year over year. Amazon’s “Thursday Night Football” led the surge, up 16% to 15.33 million — the best Thursday slate since the package launched in 2006 and up 60% from Prime Video’s first exclusive season in 2022. Eight TNF games cleared 15 million, with the Broncos-Chiefs game on Christmas night averaging 21.06 million, a Prime regular-season high.

CBS posted its best regular season on record at 21.25 million (11% increase) and dominated the late-Sunday window (25.83 million) for a third straight year. The Chiefs-Cowboys Thanksgiving game delivered 57.23 million viewers, making it the most-watched regular-season game in NFL history, and CBS aired four of the 10 biggest games.

NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” averaged 23.5 million (9% increase) and remains on track to finish as primetime’s No. 1 show for a 15th consecutive season.

ABC/ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” averaged 15.8 million for its 21-game slate (second-best since moving to ESPN in 2006) and 16.5 million when including two Week 18 Saturday games. Five MNF games topped 20 million viewers this season.

Fox averaged 19.63 million (6% increase), its best since 2015. “America’s Game of the Week” drew 25.28 million on average in the late afternoon slot, including 33.8 million for an Eagles-Chiefs Super Bowl rematch in September.

–Field Level Media

Aug 16, 2025; Arlington, Texas, USA; A view of the NFL logo on the goalpost pads before the game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Baltimore Ravens at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Report: Lightning, Nielsen may create a shock to TNF ratings

Posted on | by Field Level Media

Could a combination of delays spell bad TV ratings news for the NFL’s Thursday night season opener?

According to a report by Front Office Sports on Friday, the NFL entered the season anticipating delays in gathering ratings data as Nielsen this week implemented a system designed to better gauge viewership through both linear and streaming platforms.

Because of the increased data and surveyed data points (according to FOS, “all major sports broadcasters” will be used in the data gathering), the NFL expects the ratings for the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles’ 24-20 victory over the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday to be released sometime next week.

Adding to the concern is the hour-plus lightning delay in the third quarter that did not see the game end until nearly 20 minutes past midnight local time.

In a Wall Street Journal report Tuesday, NFL chief data and analytics officer Paul Ballew expressed concern about the impact Nielsen’s system — known as the Big Data + Panel methodology — would have on the league’s viewership numbers.

“There are millions of viewers that we believe they are systematically undercounting,” Ballew told the paper.

Though the methodology this season is different from previous seasons, the FOS report did point to a game in 2024 that experienced a similar delay.

In Week 5 of last season, kickoff between the Cowboys and Steelers in Pittsburgh was delayed nearly 90 minutes because of lightning. Despite the Cowboys winning 20-17 on a touchdown pass with 20 seconds remaining (and the game featuring two of the league’s marquee franchises), the game that ended at 1 a.m. ET drew 23 percent fewer viewers that the Week 5 Sunday night game a year earlier.

–Field Level Media

Bills quarterback Josh Allen carries the ball during second half action against the Kansas City Chiefs in Orchard Park, Nov.17, 2024.

NFL’s massive ratings weather election season

Posted on | by Field Level Media

The NFL’s television ratings remained strong in the wake of the recent election season.

An average of 17.5 million viewers have tuned in to an NFL game this season, which does not count international games carried by NFL Network or other exclusive broadcasts streamed on ESPN+ and Peacock. The league reported it is the highest average viewership through Week 11 since the 2015 season.

The increased ratings come after speculation that viewership might decline during the election season. That’s what happened in 2016, when the ratings dipped 8 percent from the previous year, according to Front Office Sports. Viewership also fell across multiple sports leagues during the COVID-impacted 2020 election season.

That changed this year, as ratings remained steady around the election window.

Late Sunday afternoon games aired on CBS and Fox, along with primetime games shown on Amazon Prime Video, NBC and ESPN, averaged 18.48 million viewers in the two weeks before the Nov. 5 election, according to Nielsen data. That average fell slightly to 18.18 million viewers in the two weeks after Election Day.

Week 11 featured the NFL’s top-rated game so far this season, with the Buffalo Bills’ 30-21 win over Kansas City, the Chiefs’ first defeat of the year, drawing 31.2 million viewers.

The two-time defending champion Chiefs have now played in four of the five most-watched games this season:

–Chiefs vs. Bills, Week 11: 31.2 million viewers
–Ravens vs. Chiefs, Week 1: 28 million
–Bengals vs. Chiefs, Week 2: 27.9 million
–Ravens vs. Cowboys, Week 3: 27.3 million
–Chiefs vs. 49ers, Week 7: 27.1 million

The NFL also drew its largest Week 11 “Monday Night Football” TV audience since 2006, as 17 million viewers tuned in for the Houston Texans’ 34-10 win over the Dallas Cowboys.

–Field Level Media

Jan 28, 2024; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce (M) celebrates with the Lamar Hunt Trophy while speaking with CBS broadcaster Jim Nance during the trophy presentation after the Chiefs' game against the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC Championship football game at M&T Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

Conference championships score ratings record for NFL

Posted on | by Field Level Media

The NFL playoffs averaged 38.5 million viewers (TV and digital), making it the most-watched postseason per records dating back to 1988, the league announced Tuesday.

The league tracked viewership for the wild card, divisional and conference championship rounds, but did not note the possible impact on ratings by music superstar Taylor Swift’s attendance at Kansas City playoff games in support of her boyfriend, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.

The league said that more than half of Americans using television in NFL windows were watching NFL games, with a 53.3 percent share for the full playoffs the highest on record.

The 38.5 million average is a 9 percent increase from last season. The wild-card round averaged 31.2 million (up 8 percent), divisional round averaged a record 40.0 million (7 percent increase) and the AFC and NFC championship games averaged a record 56.1 million (up 11 percent).

“Our record-breaking viewership is driven by the incredible play on the field that only the NFL postseason can deliver and presented by the best media partners in the business,” Hans Schroeder, executive vice president of media distribution with the NFL, said in a news release.

The AFC champion Chiefs play the NFC champion San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII on Feb. 11 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, shown on CBS, Paramount+, Nickelodeon and Univision, and on mobile with NFL+.

–Field Level Media