The NFL may suspect that its TV ratings are being underestimated, but as the in-game data culled from the new Nielsen currency continues to roll in, there would seem to be very little for the league to complain about thus far on the audience-delivery front.
According to Nielsen’s latest stack of Big Data + Panel figures, CBS on Sunday averaged 23.9 million viewers during its 4:25 p.m. ET national window, which featured the Lions and Packers in more than 90% of its markets. While the opener in Lambeau wasn’t anywhere near as diverting as last season’s Dec. 5 barn burner, a 34-31 Detroit win that secured its ticket to the playoffs, the late-afternoon blowout served up the biggest Week 1 audience for CBS since the NFL returned to the network in 1998.
As the Lions scored a garbage time TD with 55 seconds to go in the fourth quarter, Green Bay’s easy 26-13 victory wasn’t as closely contested as the score would seem to indicate. Despite the surprisingly one-sided contest (the Packers kicked off Sunday’s NFC North hatefest as 2-point favorites), CBS’ rare standalone Week 1 doubleheader helped the Tiffany network kick off the season with a big ratings win. The last time CBS had the first Sunday national window all to itself was 10 years ago, when the Broncos beat the Ravens 19-13 in front of an audience of 23.3 million viewers.
Setting the table for CBS’ big afternoon draw, an unexpected show of offensive firepower care of the Steelers and Jets helped scare up 17.1 million viewers in the 1 p.m. ET window. With more than 80% coverage, Aaron Rodgers’ return to MetLife Stadium featured seven lead changes, culminating in Chris Boswell’s 60-yard field goal with 1:03 left on the clock.
Opposite that 34-32 air war, Fox’s own early NFL window averaged 17.9 million viewers, giving the network bragging rights to the most-watched Week 1 singleheader since 2015. Fox’s coverage featured its A-tier battery of Kevin Burkhardt and Tom Brady calling the action as the Giants were overpowered by the Commanders, plus five other regional pairings. By way of comparison, Fox averaged a little north of 13 million viewers with its analogous Week 1 window a year ago.
While the afternoon deliveries impressed, NBC’s wild Ravens-Bills Sunday Night Football opener looks to be the big winner in Week 1, as Buffalo’s 41-40 comeback victory over Baltimore averaged 24.7 million viewers on NBC and Peacock. That marks the biggest turnout for an NBC Sunday night premiere since the Buccaneers and Cowboys served up 25 million total viewers in 2022, and while the new Nielsen currency makes for a somewhat inapt comparison—on average, the Big Panel lift over standard live-same-day deliveries is hovering in the plus-5 to plus-6% range—the NFL script doctors couldn’t have dialed up a more thrilling start the season.
Viewership for the broadcast peaked early in the first half at 28.2 million viewers. TV deliveries declined noticeably at around the 11:42 mark of the fourth quarter, as Baltimore expanded their lead to 16 with a 46-yard score from Derrick Henry. In concert with the premature switching off of sets, Bills fans were spied filing out of Highmark Stadium shortly after Henry seemingly put the game out of reach.
Their loss.
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