Perhaps it was the matchup, or the weather, but the NFL got off to its slowest start in the ratings in nearly a decade.
Thursday’s Chiefs-Patriots NFL Kickoff Game had a 12.6 rating and 21.8 million viewers on NBC, per Nielsen fast-nationals — down 14% in ratings and 13% in viewership from Panthers-Broncos last year (14.6, 25.2M) and down 22% and 20% respectively from Steelers-Patriots in 2015 (16.2, 27.4M).
The Chiefs’ win, which peaked with 23.9 million viewers from 9:30-9:45 PM ET, ranks as the lowest rated NFL Kickoff Game since Washington-Giants in 2008 (8.6) and the least-watched since Titans-Steelers in 2009 (20.9M).
Overall, it tied the sixth-lowest rating in the history of the Kickoff Game (16 telecasts dating back to 2002).
The above figures do not include streaming viewership on NBC Sports or NFL digital platforms, which increased 32% from 268,000 to 355,000 — the largest streaming audience ever for the Sunday Night Football package. That sizable increase did nothing to offset the declines in TV viewership, with the combined TV and digital audience (22.2M) still down 13% from last year (25.4M).
Thursday’s game faced greater-than-usual competition from the cable news networks and The Weather Channel, which per Fox Sports executive Michael Mulvihill combined to average a 6.4 rating in the metered markets — up from a 4.3 last year and a 3.0 in 2015.
The Kickoff Game ranks as television’s highest rated and most-watched program since Game 5 of the NBA Finals in June (13.5, 24.7M). For the year, it ranks as the 17th-most watched sporting event behind that NBA game, the national championships of college football and college basketball, and 13 other NFL games (including two regular season windows).
Demographic ratings were not immediately available.
[Thu. numbers from NBC Sports PR 9.8, Michael Mulvihill/Twitter 9.8]
