With last year’s window featuring one of the most memorable regular season games in recent memory, the NFL singleheader had no shot at an increase last weekend.
The Week 15 NFL singleheader window, featuring either Lions/Giants or 49ers/Falcons in two-thirds of markets, had a 10.8 final rating and 18.7 million viewers on FOX Sunday afternoon — down 26% in ratings and 25% in viewership from last year, when coverage featured the undefeated Panthers against the Giants (or more accurately, Odell Beckham Jr. against Josh Norman). That game had a 14.5 rating and 25.0 million viewers, ranking as the most-watched singleheader on any network since at least 1997.
Compared to coverage on CBS in 2014, ratings fell 3% (from 11.1) and viewership increased a fraction of a percent (from 18.679M to 18.705M).
While NFL ratings have experienced a recovery in recent weeks, that has not been the case on FOX. Since Washington/Dallas scored the NFL’s largest regular season audience in 21 years on Thanksgiving, all six subsequent NFL windows on FOX have declined by double-digits in both ratings and viewership. Keep in mind FOX has not aired a Cowboys game since Thanksgiving, an unusual dry spell that will not end until Week 17 — or the playoffs.
(Wknd. numbers via ShowBuzz Daily 12/20)
