Week 5 of the NFL season was marked by ratings declines for each of the league’s major television partners.
CBS, which is still at an impasse with Nielsen, delivered the top NFL audience of a second-straight week with a 9.9 rating and 20.27 million viewers for Sunday’s national window (Packers-Rams in 86% of markets) — down 14% in ratings and 12% in viewership from last year (mostly Chiefs-Vikings: 11.6, 23.13M).
Both figures are the lowest for the national window this season, and the 9.9 rating is the lowest for an unopposed national window since Week 7 of the 2021 season.
Delayed until after 9:45 PM ET due to a weather delay, Cowboys-Steelers averaged a 9.4 rating and 20.3 million viewers on the latest edition of NBC’s Sunday Night Football (17.81M per Nielsen, plus additional streaming viewership tracked by Adobe Analytics) — down 22% in ratings and 23% in viewership from Cowboys-49ers last year (12.1, 26.3M).
The Cowboys’ win, which did not end until nearly 1 AM ET, was unsurprisingly the lowest rated and least-watched edition of SNF this season. It is rare for any NFL game to begin as late as 9:45 PM ET. Only 13 other NFL games in the past 24 seasons have begun as late — a list primarily consisting of ESPN’s now-discontinued Week 1 late doubleheader game — and none managed more than 14.3 million.
In other primetime action, ESPN’s Monday Night Football (Saints-Chiefs) averaged 15.91 million viewers across ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes — the largest cable-exclusive MNF audience since 2019, but down from Packers-Raiders on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC last year (17.38M). Such performances are likely to be common throughout the season, as MNF viewership was boosted last season by a strike-induced run of ABC simulcasts.
The Chiefs game aired directly opposite the Royals’ MLB Postseason matchup against the Yankees. The Royals game had a 10.9 rating in Kansas City, with local figures for the Chiefs game not immediately available.
Returning to the afternoon, FOX averaged a 7.1 and 14.24 million for its singleheader — down 16% and 15% respectively from last year (ft. Eagles-Rams: 8.4, 16.81M). CBS was the lone exception to the declines, turning in a 7.4 and 14.34 million for its early doubleheader window (Bills-Texans in 60% of markets), up 11% and 14% respectively from a year ago (mostly Ravens-Steelers: 6.7, 12.63M).
Rounding out the Sunday slate, NFL Network drew a 2.6 and 4.95 million for the Jets-Vikings International Series game from London — down from Jaguars-Bills in Week 5 a year ago (2.7, 5.13M).
