NFL TV Rating Slightly Down, But Still Dominating TV

With NFL Playoffs Starting This Weekend. The NFL Regular-season ratings saw a decline this season following two straight years of increases. NFL games averaged 15.6 million television and digital viewers, according to the league and Nielsen. The league averaged 16.5 million regular-season viewers last season after posting 5% gains in both 2018 and ’19.

NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” finished as prime time’s top show for the 10th straight year, but the 17.4 million average was down 15% from last season. The Sunday night games were also outdrawn by the late-afternoon kickoffs on Fox and CBS. The NBC games did account for seven of the top 10 and 14 of the 20 most-viewed prime-time shows between Sept. 10, 2020 and Jan. 3, 2021. The only non-sports shows to make the top 10 were the first presidential debate on Sept. 29 and the Oct. 25 episode of CBS’ “60 Minutes.”

Fox’s “Thursday Night Football” averaged 14.1 million, which is a 6% decline. ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” was off 3%, averaging 12.2 million. Fox ended up averaging 18.1 million for its Sunday games. That’s down 6% but marks the first time since 2009 the afternoon games have outdrawn “Sunday Night Football.”

The 23.2 million average for the “America’s Game of the Week” late-afternoon game during doubleheader weeks makes it television’s most-watched package for the 12th consecutive season. Click Here To Read More.

Source: 13 WHAM-TV