Week 5 of the NFL season included another strong performance for “America’s Game of the Week” and superlatives for both ESPN and NFL Network.
Sunday’s NFL national window (mostly Cowboys-Rams) averaged a 12.0 rating and 24.25 million viewers on FOX, up 6% in ratings and 7% in viewership from last year (mostly Cowboys-Giants) — marking the fourth-straight week that the late doubleheader window has increased over last year.
The telecast delivered the fourth-largest audience of the season, with the national window accounting for each of the top four. The Cowboys have been featured in four of the five most-watched windows this season, three in the late doubleheader window and the Week 1 edition of Sunday Night Football.
No other Week 5 window had nearly as large an audience. NBC’s Sunday Night Football (Bengals-Ravens) drew a season-low 8.6 and 15.88 million, topping only Vikings-Seahawks two years ago — which aired opposite the clinching game of the NBA Finals — as the network’s least-watched Week 5 game since 2008.
The Sunday night game barely outdrew Monday Night Football (Raiders-Chiefs), which scored an 8.7 and 15.79 million on ESPN — the most-watched Week 5 edition of MNF since 2011. The 11-year high comes despite the fact that it was the first MNF game this season without an English-language simulcast.
ESPN was not alone in hitting a viewership high. NFL Network scored a 3.0 and 5.22 million for the early morning Giants-Packers game from London, its most-watched International Series game.
Rounding out the Week 5 slate, CBS drew a 7.6 and 14.70 million for its singleheader (mostly Steelers-Bills) and FOX a 6.9 and 12.77 million for the first half of its doubleheader (mostly Falcons-Buccaneers) — both down double-digits from last year.
As previously noted, Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime (Colts-Broncos) opened Week 5 with a 4.9 and 9.70 million.
(Nielsen estimates from network PR, Programming Insider 10.11, ShowBuzz Daily 10.11)
