The latest weekly sports ratings charts include a strong Sunday afternoon for the NFL and two of the smallest World Series audiences on record.
Sunday’s NFL national window on CBS (mostly 49ers-Bengals) was the most-watched program of the week and the second-most watched NFL window of the season (per Nielsen) with 26.06 million viewers, topping a strong Sunday afternoon slate. The FOX singleheader (Rams-Cowboys in a plurality of markets) neared 20 million viewers, easily a season-high for that window. The good times did not extend into primetime, where NBC hit a season-low for a Bears-Chargers dud (15.72M).
As one would expect, the World Series was the top non-NFL draw with 9.17 million viewers for Game 1 Friday and 8.15 million for Game 2 Saturday. Those are two of the three smallest audiences in World Series history, with Game 2 ranking dead last.
For the first time since “week zero,” no college football game this week cracked the seven (or six) million viewer mark, with Georgia-Florida topping the charts at 5.95 million.
Other notables on the chart this week include a record college volleyball audience on Sunday and the most-watched NBA opening week in six years.
Weekly sports ratings, October 23-29
Only events with at least 150,000 viewers are listed. Household ratings of 0.55 or below are shown to the second decimal point.
Sunday, October 29
Four of Sunday’s five NFL windows scored an increase over last year, with Sunday Night Football the lone exception.
Saturday, October 28
In addition to hitting a record-low, Game 2 of the World Series declined 24% from last year.
Friday, October 27
Game 1 of the World Series was the least-watched opener in Fall Classic history.
Thursday, October 26
Thursday Night Football scored yet another double-digit increase in viewership last week.
Wednesday, October 25
Victor Wembanyama’s NBA debut delivered nearly three million viewers on ESPN, the largest audience of NBA Opening Week and up 83% from last year’s equivalent window.
Tuesday, October 24
Game 7 of the National League Championship Series delivered the largest MLB Postseason audience (excluding the World Series) in three years.
Monday, October 23
Through seven weeks, Monday Night Football was having its most-watched season since 2005.
