During the NFL’s opening week, the league averaged 21.0 million viewers per game, making it the most-watched Week 1 in history.
On Wednesday morning, the NFL and Nielsen reported that this average viewership across TV and digital platforms was a 12% increase from the previous year.
In total, 123 million people watched at least part of a game, the highest number for an opening week since 2019.
“It was a great start with the viewership. It was great to be back and there’s a lot to be excited about,” said Hans Schroeder, the executive vice president of NFL Media.
NBC had the highest-rated game with the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City’s 27-20 win over Baltimore last Thursday.
This game averaged 29.2 million viewers on TV and digital, making it NBC’s second-largest regular season game since it started airing “Sunday Night Football” in 2006. The Sunday night game between Detroit and the Los Angeles Rams, which Detroit won 26-20 in overtime, averaged 22.7 million viewers, a 3% increase from last year.
Tom Brady’s debut game as Fox’s top analyst — Dallas’ 33-17 victory over Cleveland — averaged 23.93 million viewers. The six games that were part of Fox’s doubleheader (four early, two late) averaged 18.64 million viewers, the best start for the network since 2020.
This was the first time since 2020 that Fox had the Sunday afternoon doubleheader exclusively for Week 1. For the past three seasons, both CBS and Fox each broadcast two games on the opening Sunday.
CBS averaged 17.79 million viewers for its six games, the highest viewership for a Week 1 singleheader since CBS regained NFL rights in 1998.
Most of CBS’ affiliates broadcast games in the 1 p.m. EDT slot, but in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, and Pittsburgh, viewers saw Jim Harbaugh’s first game as coach of the Los Angeles Chargers against the Las Vegas Raiders at 4:05 p.m. EDT.
In New York, Chicago, Atlanta, and Pittsburgh, CBS couldn’t show games in the early window because of a league rule preventing games from airing opposite local teams’ games.
