Ratings Roundup: NFL's 100th Season Kickoffs With Most-Watched Game Since Super Bowl LIII

Ratings Roundup: NFL's 100th Season Kickoffs With Most-Watched Game Since Super Bowl LIII By Kristian Hernandez, Associate Editor

Wednesday, September 11, 2019 - 8:30 am

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Ratings roundup is a rundown of rating news from the past week and is derived from press releases and reports around the industry. In this week's edition, the 100th NFL season began with a flourish, other major networks digest the numbers from the NFL's Week 1 and college football's Week 2, and ESPN enjoys their most-watched US Open tournament ever.

Week 1 in the NFL Features Hot Start by NBC

The Green Bay Packers' 10-3 victory over the Chicago Bears in the opening game of the NFL's 100th season averaged a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of 22.7 million viewers across NBC TV, NBC Sports Digital, and NFL Digital platforms - making it the most-watched sporting event since Super Bowl LIII in February, according to Fast National data released today by Nielsen, and digital data from Adobe Analytics.

With 22.7 million viewers, the Packers-Bears matchup registered a 16% increase from last year's opener (19.6 million TAD for Falcons-Eagles) and is the most-watched NFL Kickoff Game since 2016.

NBC's TV coverage peaked at 23.9 million viewers between 9:15-9:30 p.m. ET, and topped 20 million viewers in every quarter hour from 8:30 p.m. ET through the game's conclusion at 11:30 p.m. ET. The broadcast averaged 22.0 million viewers on NBC.

The Average Minute Audience (AMA) for Thursday night's live stream via NBC Sports and NFL Digital platforms was 627,000 viewers - the highest ever for a game in the SNF package - and up 10% from last year's NFL Kickoff Game (570,000).

NBC Sports Digital's live stream of last night's NFL Kickoff game ranks as its most streamed NFL regular-season game ever. Fans consumed 127 million live streaming minutes across 2.7 million unique devices, up 17% and 38%, respectively, from last year's NFL Kickoff Game.

The game (8:23 p.m.-11:30 p.m. ET) registered a national TV household rating of 12.8/26 - up 13% from last year (11.3/23).

The top metered markets included Milwaukee (48.1/69), Chicago (35.3/56), Minneapolis (23.9/43), New Orleans (23.1/33), Kansas City (21.9/36), Denver (21.1/39), Buffalo (19.7/34), Jacksonville (19.0/31), Norfolk (18.1/28), and Cincinnati (17.8/31)

Moving to Sunday, NBC continued the momentum. The New England Patriots' 33-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers delivered NBC's second viewership increase in four days over last year's corresponding NFL Kickoff Weekend game - marking the first time both of NBC's NFL opening weekend games posted year-over-year increases since 2015.

The Patriots' win, highlighted by Tom Brady's 341 passing yards and three touchdowns, averaged a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of 22.7 million viewers across NBC TV, NBC Sports Digital, and NFL Digital platforms, according to fast national data released by Nielsen, and digital data from Adobe Analytics.

Sunday night's viewership topped last year's down-to-the-wire SNF opener (22.6 million viewers for Bears-Packers) featuring Aaron Rodgers' second-half return from injury to lead the Packers to a come-from-behind 24-23 victory after trailing by 17 points at halftime.

Coupled with Thursday night's Packers-Bears NFL Kickoff Game, NBC's two-game NFL Kickoff Weekend viewership average of 22.7 million viewers is up 8% from last year's first two NBC games (21.1 million TAD).

The Average Minute Audience (AMA) for Sunday night's live stream via NBC Sports Digital and NFL Digital platforms was 523,000 viewers - NBC Sports Digital's highest for a regular-season Sunday night game, and up 30% from last year's opening Sunday night game (403,000 for Bears-Packers).

NBC Sports Digital's live stream of Steelers-Patriots ranks as its most streamed Sunday regular-season game ever. Fans consumed 90.4 million live streaming minutes across 3.0 million unique devices, up 3% and 66%, respectively, from last year's SNF opener.

Sunday night's game (8:23 p.m.-11 p.m. ET) registered a national TV household rating of 12.6/24 and averaged 22.2 million viewers on NBC. Steelers-Patriots peaked at 25.1 million TV viewers from 9:15-9:30 p.m. ET, as the Patriots built a 20-0 halftime lead.

Top metered market ratings included Pittsburgh (42.3/60), Providence (37.4/57), Boston (36.3/58), New Orleans (22.7/31), Denver (19.6/33), Baltimore (19.1/30), Norfolk (18.8/31), Kansas City (18.3/30), Dayton (18.2/29), and Buffalo (18.0/29)

On Fox, AMERICA'S Game of The Week between the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants delivered 23,904,000 viewers to become Sunday's most-watched NFL telecast. It was also the best Week 1 performance for the network since 2016. Fox NFL Kickoff started off with tremendous numbers as well with 1,426,000 viewers, which is up 22% over last year (1,170,000 viewers). In addition, Fox NFL Sunday posted its best start to the season since 2016 with 5,202,000 viewers, up 7% over last year (4,843,000 viewers)

In the early doubleheader between the Washington Redskins and Philadelphia Eagles, the contest delivered a 7.4 rating which is similar to last years. As for viewers, the game brought in 12.6 million which is a 1% increase

On CBS, the singleheader featuring the Tennessee Titans vs. Cleveland Browns and Kansas City Chiefs took a hit due to two blowouts. The pairing combined for a 9.0 rating with 15.4 million viewers, which accounted for a 7% and 10% decrease, respectively

The 2019 season-opening Monday Night Football doubleheader averaged 12 million viewers across ESPN and ESPN Deportes, according to Nielsen. This is an increase of 18% year-over-year and ranks as the most-viewed doubleheader on ESPN since 2015.

Texans-Saints and Broncos

LINK:	https://www.sportsvideo.org/2019/09/11/ratings-roundup-nfls-100th-seas...
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