"NFL's Enormous Viewership During Election Season"
The NFL's TV ratings remained robust following the recent election season.
On average, 17.5 million viewers have watched an NFL game this year, not including international games on NFL Network or exclusive broadcasts on ESPN+ and Peacock. The league reported that this is the highest average viewership through Week 11 since the 2015 season.
The increased ratings come after speculation that viewership would decline during the election season. This was the case in 2016, when ratings dropped by 8% from the previous year, according to Front Office Sports. Viewership also decreased across multiple sports leagues during the COVID-impacted 2020 election season.
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However, this year saw steady ratings during the election window.
According to Nielsen data, late Sunday afternoon games on CBS and Fox, as well as primetime games on Amazon Prime Video, NBC, and ESPN, averaged 18.48 million viewers in the two weeks before the November 5th election. This average slightly decreased to 18.18 million viewers in the two weeks after Election Day.
Week 11 featured the NFL's most-watched game of the season so far, with the Buffalo Bills' 30-21 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs, the Chiefs' first loss of the year, drawing 31.2 million viewers.
The two-time defending champions, the Chiefs, have now played in four of the top five most-watched games this season:
- Chiefs vs. Bills, Week 11: 31.2 million viewers
- Ravens vs. Chiefs, Week 1: 28 million viewers
- Bengals vs. Chiefs, Week 2: 27.9 million viewers
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- Ravens vs. Cowboys, Week 3: 27.3 million viewers
- Chiefs vs. 49ers, Week 7: 27.1 million viewers
The NFL also saw its largest Week 11 "Monday Night Football" TV audience since 2006, with 17 million viewers tuning in for the Houston Texans' 34-10 win over the Dallas Cowboys.
