The Cowboys may be “America’s team,” but it may be the case that the two-time defending champion Chiefs have become the biggest draw in football.
Sunday’s NFL national window on CBS, featuring Bengals-Chiefs in 94% of markets, averaged a 13.3 rating and 27.87 million viewers — marking the largest Week 2 NFL audience since at least 1990 and the largest September NFL audience on CBS since the network resumed airing games in 1998. As with any historical comparisons, keep in mind that Nielsen did not include out-of-home viewing in its estimates until 2020.
(While Nielsen is now including ‘first party’ streaming data in a new “Big Data + Panel” metric being rolled out this month, the above figures are “panel only” and comparable to past years.)
Viewership increased 8% from coverage featuring Jets-Cowboys last year (25.78M).
Earlier in the day, regional action featuring Jets-Titans or 49ers-Vikings averaged a 6.9 and 14.01 million — down 19% and 15% respectively from last year, when coverage featured the Chiefs in most markets (8.6, 16.51M).
CBS is now averaging 19.86 million viewers for NFL coverage so far this season, up 5% from the same point last year and its best two-week start since resuming coverage in the 1998-99 season.
In other week two action, FOX drew a 9.1 and 18.78 million for its Week 2 singleheader, featuring Saints-Cowboys in most markets — up 11% from last year (16.89M). FOX is now averaging 18.68 million for its coverage, its best start since 2020 (19.44M). (Keep in mind FOX aired a solo doubleheader in Week 1 after several years of facing a competing CBS doubleheader in the opening week of play.)
Shifting to primetime, Bears-Texans drew a combined 20.3 million on NBC and Peacock (across Nielsen and Adobe Analytics) — up 6% from Dolphins-Patriots last year (19.2M). The Nielsen-only figures were a 9.4 and 18.02 million, down slightly in ratings but up slightly in viewership compared to Dolphins-Patriots (9.6, 17.86M).
NBC and Peacock are now averaging 24.1 million for NFL games this season, not counting the exclusive Friday night Peacock game in Week 1, the highest at this point of the season since 2015.
Rounding out the Week 2 slate, ESPN and ESPN2 combined to average a 7.9 and nearly 15 million viewers for Eagles-Falcons on Monday Night Football. Last year’s comparable Week 2 slate consisted of overlapping games on ABC and ESPN, making for an apples-to-oranges comparison.
