Ratings and viewership jumped in Week 2 of the NFL season, but the real eyeopener may be the dramatically increased sampling for ESPN’s Manningcast.
The Week 2 edition of Monday Night Football (Lions-Packers) averaged 13.81 million viewers across ESPN and ESPN2, including 1.86 million for the Peyton and Eli Manning-fronted alternate presentation on ESPN2 — more than double the audience that tuned in for the Mannings in Week 1 (800K). The Manningcast accounted for 13% of the total audience, compared to five percent in Week 1 (when the primary presentation of the game aired on both ESPN and ABC).
The combined audience declined 11% from Saints-Raiders in Week 2 last year, but that game aired on both ESPN and ABC (15.59M). Compared to Browns-Jets on ESPN alone in 2019, viewership increased 13%. Green Bay’s win trails only last year as the most-watched Week 2 edition of MNF since 2014 (Eagles-Colts: 14.89M).
Lions-Packers was the only Week 2 game to decline from last year. Not only were the other windows up, in most cases they increased by double-digits. [For the full list of Week 2 NFL ratings, see the NFL ratings page.]
CBS averaged 19.29 million viewers for its Week 2 doubleheader, up 33% from last year it its most-watched September doubleheader since 2014. The network is now averaging 17.93 million for the season, its highest two-week average since 2015 (18.18M).
In particular, the late doubleheader window (Cowboys-Chargers in 91% of markets) averaged a 12.6 rating and 24.29 million viewers, up 25% in ratings and 29% in viewership from last year (mostly Chiefs-Chargers: 10.1, 18.87M) and the network’s most-watched national window in the month of September since 2014. Ratings and viewership were a mixed bag compared to 2019 — when FOX had the Week 2 doubleheader — declining 4% in the former but increasing 4% in the latter.
The early CBS window (Raiders-Steelers in 65% of markets) averaged a 7.6 and 14.18 million, up 41% in ratings and 45% in viewership from last year (5.4, 9.75M) but down 17% and 12% respectively from 2019 on FOX (9.2, 16.09M).
Over on FOX, singleheader coverage featuring Falcons-Buccaneers or 49ers-Eagles averaged a 9.6 (+7%) and 18.47 million (+10%) — marking the highest rated Week 2 singleheader since 2018 (10.0) and the most-watched since 2016 (19.16M).
Rounding out the Sunday slate, NBC averaged a 10.8 and 19.81 million for Chiefs-Ravens on Sunday Night Football — the highest rated and most-watched Week 2 edition of SNF since 2018 (Giants-Cowboys: 11.7, 20.66M). Ratings increased 8% and viewership 12% from Patriots-Seahawks last year (10.0, 17.69M), which faced unprecedented NBA conference final competition, and increased 5% and 12% respectively from 2019 (Eagles-Falcons: 10.3, 17.64M).
Including additional streaming coverage not tracked by Nielsen (630K across Peacock, NBC Sports Digital, NFL Digital and more), the game audience topped 20 million.
[Nielsen estimates from ShowBuzz Daily 9.21 a, b, CBS Sports, NBC Sports, Fox Sports]
