NFL viewership is trending further ahead of last year’s pace by the week.
NFL regular season windows were averaging 18.4 million viewers through Week 7 of the season, up 4% from last year and the highest average at this point of the season since 2015. Last week’s Week 7 windows averaged 18.1 million, up 17% from last year and the highest since 2014.
Viewership had been up two percent through Week 6 and one percent through Week 5. The league had to dig out of a 13 percent hole in Week 1, which featured competing doubleheaders for the first time since 2023.
Chiefs-Seahawks topped the Week 7 charts with a 12.5 rating and 26.29 million viewers on NBC’s “Sunday Night Football,” marking the largest primetime audience of the NFL season and fifth-largest regardless of window. The Chiefs have been featured in three different networks’ most-watched windows this season, including CBS in Week 4 against the Raiders (28.45M) and ESPN/ABC in Week 1 against the Broncos (23.23M).
The Seahawks’ win, which peaked with 29.0 million in the 9:30 PM ET quarter-hour, officially ranks as the most-watched Week 7 edition of “SNF” since 2013 (Broncos-Colts: 27.0M).
In addition to the viewership high, it also tied the highest rating of the season on any network — matching the aforementioned Week 4 national window on CBS.
Placing second for the week, FOX averaged an 11.1 and 24.67 million for its late doubleheader window (mostly Packers-Lions) — down from coverage featuring Commanders-Cowboys last year (11.9, 25.63M)
“Thursday Night Football” placed third with an 8.6 and 19.86 million for Patriots-Bears on Prime Video, which as previously noted ranks as the second-largest “TNF” audience since the series began airing on Prime in 2022.
In a rarity, “Monday Night Football” finished third out of the three primetime packages, as Cowboys-Eagles combined for 18.8 million on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, NFL Network and NFL+ — on par with Buccaneers-Lions in the first half of a doubleheader last year. Coverage aired opposite Game 3 of the World Series on FOX (8.3M). Viewership increased 7% from last year’s “MNF” game opposite the World Series, Commanders-Chiefs in Week 9 (17.6M).
Returning to the afternoon windows, CBS averaged a 7.1 and 15.43 million for its singleheader (mostly Bengals-Ravens) and FOX a 6.5 and 14.01 million for the first half of its doubleheader (mostly 49ers-Falcons), down from last year’s comparable windows (8.4, 17.84M; 6.8, 14.13M).
Rounding out the Week 7 slate, NFL Network averaged a 3.6 and 7.70 million for the Steelers-Saints International Series game from Paris, France, a figure that includes local over-the-air simulcasts in the home markets — up from last year’s 2.8 and 5.63 million for Rams-Jaguars. On NFL Network alone, the game had a 3.2 and 6.92 million, compared to last year’s 2.6 and 5.26 million.
