In a season marked by declines, CBS scored a rare increase in viewership for its NFL singleheader.
The Week 4 NFL singleheader window had a 9.4 final rating and 16.4 million viewers on CBS Sunday afternoon, down 2% in ratings but up 4% in viewership from last year (9.6, 15.8M) and up 27% and 39%, respectively, from 2014 (7.4, 11.8M). It was the most-watched Week 4 singleheader since 2011 on FOX (23.3M).
In addition, it was just the sixth of 26 NFL telecasts this season, and the second of nine on CBS, to post an increase in viewership.
The viewership increase came despite a weaker lead-in. The Colts/Jaguars NFL International Series game had a 4.8 and 7.7 million earlier in the morning, down 25% in ratings and 22% in viewership from Jets/Dolphins last year (6.4, 9.9M) and the lowest rated and least-watched of the league’s early morning London games (four telecasts).
The Jaguars’ win tied the lowest NFL rating of the season, matching Dolphins/Bengals on Thursday Night Football last week. That game aired exclusively on NFL Network.
(Wknd. numbers via ShowBuzz Daily 9/30)
