Television ratings and viewership for the 2022 NFL season. Numbers obtained from various sources, including network PR, ShowBuzz Daily and Programming Insider.
NFL TV ratings, 2022 season
Conference championship games
Cowboys-49ers topped Divisional Round weekend with more than 45 million viewers, the second-largest audience on record for a Divisional Round game.
Divisional Round weekend
Cowboys-49ers topped Divisional Round weekend with more than 45 million viewers, the second-largest audience on record for a Divisional Round game.
Wild Card weekend
Giants-Vikings was the most-watched game of Wild Card weekend, while the Monday night Cowboys-Buccaneers game was the highest rated.
Week 18
The Bills’ return to the field delivered the largest audience of Week 18 and the largest CBS audience in the final week of an NFL season since 2011.
Week 17
FOX scored the NFL’s largest singleheader audience in seven years, while CBS and NBC both saw declines, on New Year’s Day.
Week 16
Despite airing on Christmas Eve Saturday, the much-hyped Eagles-Cowboys showdown on FOX outdrew all three of the NFL’s Christmas Day games.
Week 15
NFL Network and FOX both saw big gains in a dramatic Week 15 of the NFL season, with the former scoring its third-largest audience ever.
Week 14
Week 14 of the NFL season brought increases for the afternoon windows and declines in primetime. FOX topped the charts with more than 24 million viewers for its late doubleheader window, which featured the 49ers’ rout of the Buccaneers in most markets.
Week 13
The NFL scored across-the-board increases for its Sunday games in Week 13 of the season, while Thursday Night Football neared the ten million viewer mark for Bills-Patriots.
Week 12
The NFL’s three Thanksgiving Day games delivered record audiences (with the caveat that out-of-home viewing was not tracked prior to two years ago), led by Giants-Cowboys at more than 42 million viewers on FOX. Meanwhile, the rest of Week 12 was a quieter draw.
Week 11
The Cowboys’ rout of the Vikings delivered one of the NFL’s largest audiences all season with nearly 28 million viewers on CBS. Meanwhile, Thursday Night Football scored a multi-month high of Titans-Packers.
Week 10
Packers-Cowboys delivered what was (at the time) the largest audience of the NFL season with more than 29 million viewers on FOX. Meanwhile, Thursday Night Football hit a season-low for an unappealing NFC South dud.
Week 9
The NFL national window hit a season-low — and posted its first year-over-year decline of the season — in Week 9, as the solo Rams-Buccaneers game was no match for Packers-Chiefs a year ago. Amazon’s Thursday Night Football narrowly avoided a season-low opposite the World Series.
Week 8
Week 8 of the NFL season brought strong showings for FOX and NBC, while ESPN did not fare as well for Monday Night Football. Meanwhile, Amazon’s Thursday Night Football saw an uptick with Tom Brady and the Buccaneers on schedule.
Week 7
Chiefs-49ers was the exception in a mostly down week for the NFL that saw Amazon Prime score a new season-low.
Week 6
Strong performances for Bills-Chiefs on CBS and Cowboys-Eagles on NBC led Week 6 of the NFL season, while Amazon Prime saw another low for a second-straight snoozer.
Week 5
FOX, ESPN and NFL Network each scored strong numbers in Week 5 of the NFL season, while Amazon Prime struggled with a subpar edition of Thursday Night Football.
Week 4
CBS topped the charts in Week 4 of the NFL season with nearly 25 million viewers for coverage featuring Patriots-Packers in markets, while most other Sunday windows declined. Meanwhile, Amazon’s Thursday Night Football scored another big increase.
Week 3
FOX and ESPN/ABC both scored multi-year highs in Week 3 of the NFL season, with FOX scoring the largest Week 3 audience on any network since 2014 and ESPN/ABC drawing the top Week 3 Monday night audience since 2000. Meanwhile, Amazon held up reasonably well for the second edition of its Thursday Night Football package.
Week 2
CBS topped the charts in Week 2 of the NFL season with more than 27 million viewers for its late Sunday window, the NFL’s largest Week 2 audience since at least 2000. ESPN and ABC split the Monday night audience, with Titans-Bills the least-watched game ever in the MNF package. Amazon started its Thursday night run with a stronger audience than expected.
Week 1
Buccaneers-Cowboys was easily the top ratings draw in Week 1 of the NFL season, averaging a 12.3 rating and 23.3 million viewers (25 million including additional streaming data not tracked by Nielsen). Also of note, Monday Night Football had its most-watched season opener since the year 2000.
On the down side, the Bills-Rams Kickoff Game declined double-digits with Buffalo winning in a rout.
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