There’s a reason why NBC bought back into the NFL and you’re seeing it with the numbers that the network is receiving especially for the first two games of its 2013 schedule. Both the season opening game last Thursday and the season premiere of Sunday Night Football garnered over 25 million viewers. The Sunday Night game between the New York Football Giants and the Dallas Cowboys averaged 25.4 million people. And the Thursday night opener pitting the Baltimore Ravens against the Denver Broncos saw an average of 25.1 million viewers.
Sunday night’s game averaged a 15.0/24 number while Thursday night’s game received a 14.9/26. However, last Sunday’s numbers are down from last year’s Week 1 season premiere (Pittsburgh at Denver) which was the highest-rated SNF game ever. That averaged a whopping 16.5/26 and just under 27.6 million viewers.
Here’s the press release from NBC.
NFL KICKOFF WEEKEND GAMES ON NBC RANK #1 AND #2 PRIMETIME SHOWS FOR WEEK
NBC Games Mark First Time Any Network Has 25+ Million Primetime Viewers Twice in One Week since 2012 London Olympics
Telecasts Dominate Primetime Competition – Topping All Broadcast Nets in Viewership & All Key Demos
Games set NBC Sports Live Extra streaming records for all events other than Olympics & Super BowlSTAMFORD, Conn. – September 10, 2013 – NBC’s NFL Kickoff Weekend games – Denver’s 49-27 win over the Super Bowl-champion Baltimore Ravens on Thursday and the Dallas Cowboys’ 36-31 victory over their NFC East rival New York Giants on the debut of Sunday Night Football – each averaged more than 25 million viewers and ranked as primetime television’s two most-watched programs last week, according to official national data released by The Nielsen Company.
The Giants-Cowboys Sunday Night Football opener averaged 25.4 million viewers to rank as primetime television’s most-watched show last week (Sept. 2-8). The Ravens-Broncos Thursday ‘NFL Kickoff’ game was the second-most watched primetime show of the week with an average of 25.1 million viewers.
With its two NFL telecasts, NBC is the only network to average 25+ million primetime viewers on two nights in one week since the 2012 London Olympics (on NBC in August 2012).
Also notable from NBC’s Week 1 NFL telecasts:
- The Thursday ‘NFL Kickoff’ game and debut of Sunday Night Football generated the #1 and #2 primetime ratings of the week on ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox in every key category – adults, men and women 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54.
- NBC’s primetime average in the Adult 18-49 demographic on Sunday beat the primetime averages of ABC, CBS and FOX combined (8.2 A18-49 rating vs. 7.4 A18-49 combined ABC, CBS and FOX).
- The Thursday night ‘NFL Kickoff’ game had a national household rating of 14.9/26, the third-highest rated NFL Kickoff game. The debut of Sunday Night Football had a 15.0/24 national household rating, tied for the third-highest rated SNF opener
DIGITAL: NBC Sports Live Extra’s live stream of NFL Kickoff and Sunday Night Football generated the two highest-trafficked non-Olympic, non-Super Bowl single-game live streams in NBC Sports Digital history.
Fans consumed nearly 20.5 million minutes of Thursday night’s Ravens-Broncos contest and 11.9 million minutes of Sunday night’s Giants-Cowboys game, which was up 20% vs. last year’s SNF opener. The previous record for an NFL stream was 10.6 million, set last season for the Week 15 49ers-Patriots matchup.
Fans were engaged as they consumed 49.4 and 38.3 minutes per visit for the Thursday and Sunday night games, respectively.
That’s all.
