A rematch of the most-watched Super Bowl on record — at least officially — delivered one of the top audiences of the NFL season.
Sunday’s Chiefs-49ers NFL national window averaged a 12.9 rating and 27.08 million viewers on FOX, marking the third-largest Nielsen-measured audience of the NFL season. The Chiefs have played in two of the top three, with the Week 2 national window on CBS (featuring Bengals-Chiefs) holding the top spot at 27.87 million. (Including Adobe Analytics, the Chiefs have played in three of the top four — with their Kickoff Game against the Ravens ranking first with more than 29 million on NBC.)
Ratings increased 5% and viewership 11% from coverage featuring Chargers-Chiefs on CBS last year (12.3, 24.38M).
This is the second-straight season to feature a Super Bowl rematch. Last November, a rematch of the prior season’s Eagles-Chiefs Super Bowl averaged 29 million viewers on Monday Night Football.
Boosted by an unopposed Week 1 doubleheader — its first since 2020 — FOX is now averaging 25.57 million viewers for its late doubleheader window this season, up 14% from last year (22.47M).
Placing a distant second for the week, Jets-Steelers averaged a 9.2 and 17.64 million on NBC’s Sunday Night Football — down 15% and 14% respectively from Dolphins-Eagles last year (10.7, 20.61M). It was the second-straight Sunday night game featuring a New York team, with both games airing opposite the Mets’ NLCS against the Dodgers. This week’s game fared far better than the prior week, when Bengals-Giants averaged a 7.9 and 15.4 million.
In other primetime action, ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 combined to average an 8.7 and 15.99 million for Ravens-Buccaneers on Monday Night Football — down 14% in both measures from 49ers-Vikings last year (10.1, 18.62M), with the important caveat that coverage aired opposite a competing Chargers-Cardinals game on ESPN+.
ESPN did not report any figures for the Chargers-Cardinals game, but per Pro Football Talk it drew 1.8 million. According to PFT, the figure “includes” local over-the-air simulcasts in the home markets; as ESPN+ is not Nielsen-rated, it may the case that the number consists entirely of the simulcast figures.
Returning to the afternoon, FOX drew a 7.6 and 15.07 million for the first half of its doubleheader — down 9% and 4% respectively from coverage on CBS featuring Bills-Patriots last year (8.4, 15.69M).
CBS drew 13.62 million for its singleheader, down 7% and 6% respectively from last year’s comparable FOX window (14.53M).
