If slightly off the prior week’s milestone pace, NFL viewership remains in the neighborhood at the halfway mark.
NFL regular season windows were averaging 18.3 million viewers through Week 9 of the season, up 2% from last year and behind only 2010 as the highest nine-week average in the Nielsen people meter era. Viewership had been trending as the highest in the people meter era through Week 8, but slipped back under the 2010 high water mark after a decline for last weekend’s slate.
(Note that out-of-home viewing was not included in Nielsen estimates until 2020 or fully accounted for until 2025, that this is only in the second year of a new Nielsen methodology integrating “Big Data” from smart TVs, set-top boxes and first party data with its traditional panel, and that Nielsen has recently tweaked its measurement to better account for co-viewing of games.)
Week 9 averaged 17.2 million viewers per window, down 7% from last year. Keep in mind this year’s Week 9 slate included a Sunday morning International Series game on NFL Network and last year’s did not.
The late doubleheader window on FOX (mostly Packers-Patriots) topped the Week 9 charts with an 11.6 rating and 25.75 million, but that was down 19% and 17% respectively from last year’s higher-profile Chiefs-Bills game on CBS (14.3, 30.84M). Both doubleheader windows declined, as the FOX early window averaged a 5.7 and 12.08 million — down 35% in both measures from last year’s 8.8 and 18.46 million on CBS.
Placing second for the week, ESPN’s Bills-Vikings “Monday Night Football” game averaged 21.7 million across ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Deportes and NFL+ — marking the most-watched Week 9 edition of “MNF” since Peyton Manning’s Colts against Tom Brady’s Patriots on ABC in 2005 (21.86M). Viewership increased 34% from Cardinals-Cowboys last year, which took place during the Disney-YouTube TV blackout.
“Monday Night Football” is now averaging 19.0 million viewers, up 24% from last year — which included multiple overlapping doubleheaders — and the highest for the series at this point of the season since 1999 on ABC (19.8M).
“MNF” edged its Sunday night counterpart despite a strong showing for NBC’s Buccaneers-Bears game, which averaged a 10.4 and 21.47 million — up 25% from Seahawks-Cammanders last year (17.2M) and the most-watched Week 9 edition of “SNF” since Patriots-Ravens in 2019 (22.6M).
Rounding out the primetime slate, last week’s Jaguars-Ravens “Thursday Night Football” game on Prime Video averaged a 6.4 and 13.96 million, up 12% and 13% respectively from Ravens-Dolphins last year (5.7, 12.36M).
The Jaguars’ win, which peaked with 16.55 million in the 9 PM ET quarter-hour, was the least-watched “TNF” game of the season. Nevertheless, the series is now averaging its largest audience on record through Week 9 of a season, as its average of 17.15 million surpasses the previous mark of 16.52 million on CBS and NFL Network in 2015.
Returning to the daytime windows, CBS averaged an 8.7 and 18.92 million for its singleheader coverage (Chiefs-Jets in 40% of markets) — up 16% and 18% respectively from last year on FOX (7.5, 16.04M). CBS continues to average its largest audience of the people meter era, including the days when it carried NFC games, with an average of 19.52 million (+0.5%).
Finally, the previously-mentioned Bengals-Falcons International Series game from Berlin averaged a 2.9 and 6.23 million across NFL Network (2.6, 5.49M) and local over-the-air simulcasts in the home markets. As noted, there was no comparable window in Week 9 last year.
