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NFL Crows About TV Ratings at Halfway Point of the 2013 Season

Posted by on Nov 7, 2013 17:00

The National Football League has sent out a press release proclaiming that viewers are watching professional football games at a record pace. Thus far, 18 NFL games rank as the most-watched TV shows this season. NBC’s Sunday Night Football accounts for 7 of the most-watched primetime programs on the networks.

NFL games on the five TV partners (CBS, ESPN, Fox, NBC and NFL Network) are averaging 16.8 million viewers through the first nine weeks of the season and that surpasses the average 16 million viewers at this same point last season.

Sunday Night Football is averaging just over 21½ million viewers and is tops among all primetime programs this season.

On cable, ESPN’s Monday Night Football is seeing an average of 13.4 million people watching the games and this despite a weak schedule.

NFL Network’s Thursday Night Football through 8 games is averaging 7.8 million viewers.

Here’s the NFL’s statement.

NFL shieldHALFTIME REPORT: NFL GAMES ARE TOPS IN SEASON OF FANTASTIC FINISHES

NFL Games Rank as TV’s 18 Most-Watched Shows this Season
Viewership Doubles Broadcast Primetime
NBC’s SNF #1 Show in Primetime
NFL Game Tops Viewership in Each of Season’s 9 Weeks

At the halfway point of the 2013 NFL season, fans are tuning into NFL games in record numbers for good reason…they have been captivated by the fantastic finishes.  More than two-thirds of games (92 of 133) have been within seven points in the fourth quarter, the most such games through the first nine weeks of a season in NFL history (89 in 2004).  In addition, more than a quarter of NFL games (35 of 133) have featured a fourth-quarter comeback victory.

NFL games account for the 18 most-watched programs on television since the NFL season kicked off on Sept. 5, as well as 19 of the top 20 (chart below). Through Week 9, NBC’s Sunday Night Football accounts for the seven most-watched primetime shows this fall.

In addition, the average NFL game telecast (including broadcast and cable) has drawn 16.8 million viewers (vs. 16.0 million at this point in 2012) – more than double the average primetime viewership (7.5 million) for the big four broadcast networks in the new television season, according to information provided by The Nielsen Company.

Following are some fast facts at midseason:

  • An NFL game telecast has been television’s most-watched program in each of the season’s first nine weeks (tied with 2012 and up from seven of the first nine weeks in 2011).
  • NFL games on CBS, ESPN, FOX and NBC collectively have averaged 12.9 million viewers making the 2013 season the most-viewed among these four networks through Week 9 since at least 2006.
  • NBC’s Sunday Night Football is averaging 21.6 million viewers through Week 9 and ranks as the No. 1 show in primetime this television season (Live-Plus-Same-Day viewing) with the seven most-watched primetime shows this fall.
  • ESPN Monday Night Football is averaging 13.4 million viewers. The Monday Night Football opener (Eagles-Redskins) was the most-watched Week 1 game ever on ESPN with 16.54 million viewers and posted the highest rating ever for a season opener on ESPN (11.8).
  • Through eight games of its 13-game schedule, NFL Network’s Thursday Night Football is averaging 7.8 million viewers (including over the air stations) – pacing +12% in viewers ahead of its 2012 13-game season average. Jets-Patriots on Thursday Night Football kicked off Week 2 and registered NFLN’s best-ever season-opening telecast with 8.8 million viewers followed by the Week 3 Kansas City Chiefs-Philadelphia Eagles game that was the highest-rated Thursday Night Football telecast in NFLN history (6.0 US HH rating and 9.4 million viewers, not including over-the-air stations).
  • Unique users to NFL Mobile properties are up 153% vs. 2012, including traffic to the completely redesigned NFL Mobile app and visits to the NFL.com mobile site

For the season, NFL games rank as the 18 most-watched TV shows since Labor Day, up from 14 at this point last season, as well as 19 of the top 20. Following are the most-watched programs this fall:

Program Viewers
1. FOX Sunday National (mostly Packers-49ers), 9/8 28.5 million
2. CBS Sunday National (mostly Broncos-Cowboys), 10/6 28.3 million
3. FOX Sunday National (mostly Eagles-Broncos), 9/29 27.0 million
4. NBC Sunday Night Football (Broncos-Colts), 10/20 26.9 million
5. FOX Sunday National (mostly Saints-Patriots), 10/13 26.7 million
6. CBS Sunday National (mostly Broncos-Giants), 9/15 26.4 million
7. CBS Sunday National (mostly Colts-49ers), 9/22 25.6 million
8. FOX Sunday National (mostly Redskins-Broncos), 10/27 25.5 million
9. NBC Sunday Night Football (Giants-Cowboys), 9/8    25.4 million
10. CBS Sunday National (mostly Ravens-Steelers & Texans-Chiefs), 10/20 25.3 million
11. NBC Thursday Night Kickoff Game (Ravens-Broncos), 9/5 25.1 million
12. CBS Sunday National (mostly Steelers-Patriots), 11/3 24.0 million
13. NBC Sunday Night Football (Redskins-Cowboys), 10/13 22.1 million
14. FOX Sunday Single (mostly Redskins-Packers & Saints-Buccaneers), 9/15 21.9 million
15. FOX Sunday Single (mostly Packers-Bengals, Giants-Panthers & Rams-Cowboys), 9/22 20.9 million
16. NBC Sunday Night Football (49ers-Seahawks), 9/15 20.5 million
17. NBC Sunday Night Football (Bears-Steelers), 9/22 20.5 million
18. NBC Sunday Night Football (Patriots-Falcons), 9/29 20.5 million
19. CBS “The Big Bang Theory” – Season Premiere, 9/30 20.4 million
20. CBS Sunday Single (mostly Chiefs-Bills), 11/3 20.1 million

Source: NFL & The Nielsen Company

Following is the list of the 23 NFL markets where football was the top-rated program for the week of Oct. 28 – Nov.3:

Week of 10/28-11/3  

 

HH

HH

RTG
Market Game

Date

RTG

SHR

Rank
New Orleans Saints at Jets 11/03/2013 49.1 74

1
Kansas City Chiefs at Bills 11/03/2013 44.7 73

1
Pittsburgh Steelers at Patriots 11/03/2013 38.5 58

1
Seattle Buccaneers at Seahawks 11/03/2013 37.4 67

1
Baltimore Ravens at Browns 11/03/2013 36.1 54

1
Indianapolis Colts at Texans 11/03/2013 36.1 54

1
Cincinnati Bengals at Dolphins** 10/31/2013 34.1 50

1
Cleveland Ravens at Browns 11/03/2013 34.1 56

1
Buffalo Chiefs at Bills 11/03/2013 33.1 60

1
Houston Colts at Texans 11/03/2013 31.7 48

1
Minneapolis Vikings at Cowboys 11/03/2013 30.2 63

1
Washington, DC Chargers at Redskins 11/03/2013 28.1 56

1
Dallas Vikings at Cowboys 11/03/2013 26.8 54

1
Philadelphia Eagles at Raiders 11/03/2013 25.3 41

1
Nashville Titans at Rams 11/03/2013 24.5 43

1
Charlotte Falcons at Panthers 11/03/2013 23.9 46

1
San Diego Chargers at Redskins 11/03/2013 23.8 53

1
Tampa Buccaneers at Seahawks 11/03/2013 18.9 31

1
Milwaukee Vikings at Cowboys 11/03/2013 16.4 36

1
New York Saints at Jets 11/03/2013 15.8 35

1
Denver Chiefs at Bills / Chargers at Redskins 11/03/2013 15.2 39

1
Phoenix Steelers at Patriots 11/03/2013 14.9 29

1
San Fran-Oakland Eagles at Raiders 11/03/2013 11.3 29

1

* Local affiliate & ESPN combined
** Local affiliate & NFLN combined
Source: NFL & The Nielsen Company

And there you have it.

About Ken Fang

Ken has been covering the sports media in earnest at his own site, Fang's Bites since May 2007 and at Awful Announcing since March 2013. He provides a unique perspective having been an award-winning radio news reporter in Providence and having worked in local television. Fang celebrates the three Boston Red Sox World Championships in the 21st Century, but continues to be a long-suffering Cleveland Browns fan.

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