Week 14 of the NFL season brought daytime gains and primetime declines, including a 14-year low for Sunday Night Football.
Sunday’s NFL national window — featuring the 49ers’ rout of the Buccaneers in 91% of markets — averaged a 12.3 rating and 24.03 million viewers on FOX, marking the largest Week 14 NFL audience since CBS averaged 28.11 million for coverage featuring Chiefs-Patriots three years ago.
Despite the lead game being so lopsided that most of the country was switched to Panthers-Seahawks in the second half, ratings and viewership outpaced last year’s comparable window on CBS, which featured an overtime Bills-Buccaneers game in most markets (11.6, ~21.4M).
Earlier in the day, regional action featuring Eagles-Giants in nearly three-quarters of markets averaged a 7.45 and 14.02 million — the highest for the early doubleheader window in Week 14 since 2018 (ft. Saints-Buccaneers: 15.18M). Keep in mind that out-of-home viewing was not included in Nielsen estimates prior to two years ago.
Over on CBS, singleheader action featuring Jets-Bills averaged a 9.1 and 17.45 million — up comfortably from last year on FOX (mostly Dallas-Washington: 8.2, ~15.7M) and most-watched Week 14 singleheader since 2019 (mostly 49ers-Saints: 17.76M).
The good times did not extend into primetime as NBC’s Sunday Night Football (Dolphins-Chargers) posted its smallest Week 14 audience in 14 years with an 8.7 rating and 15.76 million viewers — the lowest rated and least-watched Week 14 edition of SNF since Washington-Baltimore in 2008, a quarterback matchup of Jason Campbell and rookie Joe Flacco (8.1, 13.29M).
ESPN’s Monday Night Football (Patriots-Cardinals) scored its smallest Week 14 audience in 11 years — and tied its lowest Week 14 rating on record — with a 5.8 and 10.25 million. Ratings and viewership plunged from Rams-Cardinals on both ESPN and ABC last year (8.4, ~15.9M).
Finally, Amazon’s Thursday Night Football (Raiders-Rams) pulled a 4.1 and 8.26 million, ranking ninth out of 12 TNF windows this season.
(Nielsen estimates from ShowBuzz Daily 12.13, Programming Insider 12.13)
