Ratings Roundup: Cowboys-Buccaneers Earns Title of Most-Watched Season Opener in Six Years; The NFL on CBS Has Second Most-Watched Week 1 Since 1998 By SVG Staff
Friday, September 17, 2021 - 7:00 am
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Ratings roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press releases and reports around the industry. In this week's edition, Cowboys-Bucs on NBC and Peacock becomes most-watched NFL Kickoff Game since 2015, The NFL on CBS delivers massive audience in Week 1, Big Noon Saturday Matchup between Ohio State and Oregon on Fox is top-rated event of the day, and more.
Cowboys-Bucs on NBC and Peacock Becomes Most-Watched NFL Kickoff Game Since 2015 The Tampa Bay Buccaneers' thrilling 31-29 victory over the Dallas Cowboys in the opening game of the NFL season last night on NBC and Peacock ranks as the most-watched NFL Kickoff Game since 2015, which was also the most-watched season in NBC Sunday Night Football history.
Cowboys-Bucs registered a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) average of approximately 26.0 million viewers across NBC TV, Peacock, NBC Sports Digital, and NFL Digital platforms, based on preliminary data - marking the largest NFL Kickoff Game audience since Steelers-Patriots in 2015 (27.4 million viewers) and up 20% from last year's NFL Kickoff Game (21.6 million TAD for Texans-Chiefs, 9/10/20).
With an average of approximately 24.4 million viewers on NBC, the NFL Kickoff Game is television's most-watched show since Super Bowl LV in February.
NBC's TV coverage peaked at 25.4 million viewers between 9:45-10 p.m. ET and topped 22 million viewers in 11 of the 14 quarter-hours from 8:30 p.m. ET through 11:55 p.m. ET.
The Average Minute Audience (AMA) for last night's live stream via Peacock, NBC Sports Digital platforms, NFL Digital platforms, Cowboys and Buccaneers mobile properties, and Yahoo Sports mobile properties was approximately 1.6 million viewers - the highest ever for an NBC NFL game, excluding Super Bowls - and up 64% from last year's NFL Kickoff Game (970,000).
Viewership figures are based upon preliminary data from Nielsen and Adobe Analytics. Official national data for NBC will be available on Monday.
Last night's game (8:24 p.m.-11:55 p.m. ET) registered a national TV household rating of 13.4/32 - up 20% from last year (11.2/23).
Top markets included:
Dallas - 29.1/56
San Antonio - 25.5/45
Tampa - 24.6/50
Providence - 23.1/44
Austin - 22.9/46
Boston - 21.4/43
Cleveland - 20.3/40
Jacksonville - 20.1/38
Norfolk - 19.9/39
Milwaukee - 17.7/37 (NBC Sports)
The NFL on CBS Delivers Massive Audience in Week 1 The NFL on CBS delivered its second most-watched Week 1 audience since 1998, when the NFL returned to CBS, with a combined average viewership for Sunday's doubleheader windows totaling 33.472 million viewers, according to Nielsen national ratings (2015, 38.172 million viewers). With the expanded 18-week NFL season, CBS gained an additional national 4:25 PM, ET window which led to a 145% increase in gross viewership for Week 1 versus last year's singleheader (13.674 million viewers).
Viewership for the 4:25 PM, ET national window, highlighted by Cleveland-Kansas City, was the most-watched Sunday telecast on any network, averaging 19.539 million viewers. It is the Network's second most-watched Week 1 game window since 1998, and its most-watched opening weekend game window since 2015 (23.287 million viewers).
The regional game window, led by Pittsburgh-Buffalo as the high-coverage game, averaged 13.933 million viewers. Sunday's doubleheader averaged 16.586 million viewers, up 21% vs. last year's 13.674 million viewers for opening weekend.
Paramount , featuring live NFL ON CBS local market games, scored an NFL regular-season viewership record for game minutes consumed while registering triple-digit year-over-year growth in unique devices and double-digit growth in streams from Week 1, 2020. (CBS Sports)
ESPN's Monday Night Football Season-Opening MegaCast: 15.3 Million Viewers, Delivering MNF's Most-Watched Week 1 Game Since 2013 ESPN's Monday Night Football MegaCast presentation of the Baltimore Ravens at Las Vegas Raiders (Sept. 13, 8:15 p.m. ET) delivered an impressive audience of 15,292,000 viewers across ESPN, ABC, ESPN2, and ESPN Deportes. The audience for Raiders' thrilling 33-27 overtime win represents ESPN's best MNF Week 1 viewership since 2013 (15 games*) and second most-watched Week 1 game since it began airing Monday Night Football (31 games).
Additionally, the MegaCast audience for Allegiant Stadium's first NFL regular season game with fans is up 42% and 17%, respectively, from the first MNF doubleheader game (7 p.m. kickoff) in 2020 and 2019. In both years, the first game of the doubleheader was the most-viewed game out of the two Week 1 games. On ESPN2 alone, Monday Night Football with Peyton and Eli registered an audience of 800,000 viewers.
Additional Ravens-Raiders MNF Viewership Highlights:
Monday Night Football was the most-watched telecast of the night among households, viewers, and all keys demo: Men 18-34, 18-49, 25-54, and 55 as well as persons 18-34, 18-49, 25-54 and P5 on both ESPN and ABC
Monday Night Football also helped ESPN and ABC become the most-watched networks (broadcast and cable) in prime time among households, viewers and the same key male and people demos
Baltimore was the highest-rated local market at 30.0, followed by Las Vegas at 18.4, and Sacramento at 16.4. The complete Top 10 also include:
Kansas City (16.0)
San Diego (15.9)
San Francisco (14.4)
Seattle (13.8)
Denver (13.6)
Cleveland (13.5)
Portland (13.3) (ESPN)
Approximately 100 Million Viewers Watched NFL Football During Week 1 Week 1 averaged 17.4 million viewers, 7% YoY on TV Digital and the 2nd-highest
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Ratings Roundup: Cowboys-Buccaneers Earns Title of Most-Watched Season Opener in Six Years; The NFL on CBS Has Second Most-Watched Week 1 Since 1998 By SVG Staff 
