Ahead of a Thanksgiving head-to-head that is widely expected to set a viewership milestone, the Chiefs and Cowboys delivered blockbuster numbers on Sunday.
CBS averaged an 11.5 rating and 24.28 million viewers for last Sunday’s NFL singleheader window (Colts-Chiefs in 55% of markets), marking the largest singleheader audience on any network since FOX averaged 25.04 million in Week 15 of the 2015 season for coverage featuring the then-undefeated Panthers against the Giants.
Outside of that decade-ago telecast, it was the most-watched singleheader since 1994.
(Keep in mind that Nielsen did not begin tracking out-of-home viewing in its estimates until 2020 and did not do so in 100 percent of markets until earlier this year. In addition, Nielsen in September shifted to a new methodology that adds “Big Data” from smart TVs and set-top boxes to its traditional panel. Between those two changes, it is a certainty that any number of telecasts from prior years would rank higher all things being equal.)
The singleheader, which also included Steelers-Bears, delivered the second-largest NFL audience of the week — trailing only the NFL national window on FOX.
Coverage featuring the Cowboys’ comeback win over the Eagles averaged a 12.9 and 27.82 million, up from last year’s 12.2 and 25.19 million (mostly 49ers-Packers) and the fourth-largest Nielsen-measured audience of the season. (Fifth-largest including Adobe Analytics viewership for NBC games.)
Placing a distant third for the week, NBC averaged an 8.2 and 16.51 million for Buccaneers-Rams, with the latter figure rising to 18.1 million including Adobe Analytics — down from Eagles-Rams last year (8.9, 17.36M; 19.0M including Adobe Analytics).
Figures for the cable-exclusive Panthers-49ers “Monday Night Football” game on ESPN were not immediately available. It was the first Monday night this season on which ABC did not carry a game.
As for the other primetime window, Amazon’s Prime Video averaged a 6.8 and 14.19 million for Bills-Texans on “Thursday Night Football.” Officially, that marks a three percent increase over Steelers-Browns last year (13.72M). But while it is Nielsen policy to compare this year’s “Big Data + Panel” figures to last year’s panel only numbers, “Big Data” figures were being tracked and publicized by Prime Video last season, allowing for an apples-to-apples comparison.
Compared to last year’s “Big Data” figure for Steelers-Browns, Bills-Texans actually declined 4% from 14.78 million.
Rounding out the Week 12 slate, FOX averaged a 5.2 and 10.67 million for its early doubleheader window — unsurprisingly down from last year, given the performance of the competing CBS singleheader.
