Ratings and viewership continued to decline for the NFL on FOX last week, but the games still did well.
The Week 4 NFL national window, featuring Eagles/49ers in 88% of markets, drew a 15.0 final rating and 25.8 million viewers on FOX — down 7% in ratings and 4% in viewership from coverage featuring Eagles/Broncos last year (16.1, 27.0M), but up 12% and 16%, respectively, from coverage featuring Saints/Packers in 2012 (13.4, 22.3M).
Though down from last year, the 15.0 rating is the second-highest for any NFL game in Week 4 of the season since 1997, when Steelers/Jaguars drew the same rating on ABC.
The early doubleheader game, featuring Packers/Bears in 65% of markets, drew a 9.1 and 15.1 million — down 3% in ratings and 1% in viewership from coverage featuring Seahawks/Texans last year (9.4, 15.3M) but up 4% and 9%, respectively, from coverage featuring 49ers/Jets in 2012 (8.7, 13.8M).
So far this season, all six NFL telecast windows on FOX have had declines from last year. FOX remains the only network that has not had at least one increase. With that said, five of the six telecasts have been up from 2012.
According to Sports Business Daily, FOX has averaged 20.6 million viewers for NFL coverage through Week 4 — down 4% from last year’s 21.4 million, but the network’s second-best average ever through this point of the season.
(Sun. numbers from Nielsen; season avg. from Sports Business Daily)
