Even though the NFL isn’t having the best of weeks, it can crow a little bit about the ratings for the NFL Kickoff game last Thursday between the Green Bay Packers and defending Super Bowl champs Seattle Seahawks as well as the Sunday Night Football season premiere which pitted the Indianapolis Colts and Denver Broncos.
The two games finished as the number one and number two top programs in primetime network programming for the week.
NFL Kickoff averaged just under 27 million viewers with a rating of 15.5 and a 26 share. That was up from last year’s Baltimore-Denver kickoff game that garnered a 14.9/26 number.
And SNF averaged 23.7 million viewers with a 13.9/23 down from 15.0/24 for the New York Giants at Dallas game.
We have the press release from NBC.
“NFL KICKOFF” & DEBUT OF SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL ON NBC RANK AS #1 AND #2 PRIMETIME SHOWS FOR WEEK
NBC Averages More than 25 Million Viewers for NFL Kickoff Weekend Games for 5th Consecutive Season
Telecasts Dominate Primetime Competition – Topping All Broadcast Nets in Viewership & All Key Demos
Games set NBC Sports Live Extra streaming recordsSTAMFORD, Conn. – September 9, 2014 – NBC averaged 25.3 million viewers for two NFL Kickoff Weekend games – Seattle’s 36-16 win over Green Bay on Thursday, and Denver’s 31-24 victory over Indianapolis on the debut of Sunday Night Football – which ranked as primetime television’s two most-watched programs last week, according to official national data released by The Nielsen Company.
The Seahawks’ 20-point victory in the Thursday “NFL Kickoff” game was the most-watched primetime show of the week (Sept. 1-7), with an average of 26.9 million viewers. The Sunday Night Football opener, in which Denver jumped out to a 24-0 first-half lead, averaged 23.7 million viewers and ranked as primetime television’s #2 show of the week.
NBC has averaged more than 25 million viewers on NFL Kickoff Weekend (two-game average) for five consecutive seasons.
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 Thursday/Sunday primetime average in the Adult 18-49 demographic beat by 77% the combined primetime averages of ABC, CBS and FOX on those nights (8.3 A18-49 rating vs. 4.7 A18-49 combined ABC, CBS and FOX).
- The Thursday night “NFL Kickoff” game had a national household rating of 15.5/26, the third-highest rated “NFL Kickoff game” in the 13-year history of the event. The debut of Sunday Night Football had a 13.9/23 national household rating.
DIGITAL: NBC Sports Live Extra’s live streams of “NFL Kickoff” and Sunday Night Football generated records as the highest-trafficked non-Olympic, non-Super Bowl, single-game live stream in NBC Sports Digital history (Green Bay-Seattle), and the most-consumed Sunday Night Football opener (Indianapolis-Denver).
Thursday’s Packers-Seahawks consumption of more than 25 million minutes on NBC Sports Live Extra topped the prior non-Olympic, non-Super Bowl record set in last year’s thrilling Week 12 “Manning-Brady XIV” SNF game, won 34-31 in overtime by New England (21.3 million).
Fans consumed nearly 19.2 million minutes of Sunday night’s Colts-Broncos game, which is the best-ever for an SNF opener, and up 60% vs. last year’s SNF opener.
That will do it.
