With last year’s preseason setting a low bar opposite the Olympics, this year’s games posted a double-digit increase in viewership.
The NFL preseason averaged 2.6 million viewers across NFL Network, ESPN, CBS, NBC and FOX, up 13% from last year, when several games aired opposite the Olympics (2.3M), but down 20% from 2015 (3.2M).
Of the 15 games that aired on the same network and in the same window as last year, nine posted increases in ratings and viewership. In seven of those nine instances, last year’s comparable game faced the Olympics.
Of the 16 games that shared networks/timeslots with 2015, only six posted an increase in viewership.
This year’s preseason included the two lowest rated games on national TV — excluding NFL Network — since the mid-2000s. Buccaneers-Jaguars pulled a 1.6 rating on ESPN August 17, the worst for a preseason game since 2005. That was surpassed nine nights later by Chargers-Rams on CBS (1.4), the lowest rated preseason game since 2004.
The preseason concluded on a low note Thursday night. Rams-Packers pulled a 0.47 rating and 707,000 viewers on NFL Network, down 31% in ratings and 29% in viewership from Patriots-Giants last year (0.68, 1.1M). The Seahawks-Raiders nightcap had a 0.40 and 607,000, down 29% in both measures from the same matchup a year ago (0.6, 856K).
[Averages compiled by SMW; Thu. numbers from Programming Insider 9.1]
