CBS opened the 2010-11 NFL season with its highest Week 1 rating in ten years.
Sunday’s NFL singleheader (featuring Bengals/Patriots) drew a 9.7 final rating and 16.175 million viewers on CBS, up 37% in ratings and 42% in viewership from last year (NYJ/HOU*: 7.1, 11.374 mil) and up 3% and 8%, respectively, from 2008 (NYJ/MIA*: 9.4, 14.995 mil).
The 9.7 rating is the highest for a Week 1 NFL telecast on CBS since 2000, when the network aired the Jets/Packers national window (9.9). That was the last year CBS aired a Week 1 doubleheader.
Excluding years when the network aired a doubleheader, this is the highest rated Week 1 telecast on CBS since ’99 (11.1).
Of the seven NFL telecasts during Week 1, CBS’ telecast ranked directly in the middle of the pack in viewership — trailing the national window on FOX and two games on NBC, but ranking ahead of the FOX regional window and both Monday night games on ESPN.
Asterisk (*) indicates featured game of window.
