Ten NFL Games Top 25 Million Viewers in 2013 – Up 400% From Last Season

NFL Games Two Most-Watched Shows of the Week & 16 Most-Watched Shows This Fall

 Games Top Local Ratings in 27 of 30 NFL Markets

Ten NFL game telecasts this season have been watched by 25 million viewers – up 400 percent from this point last year (two) and surpassing the total for the full 2012 season (eight).

NFL telecasts ranked 1-2 in viewership among all television programs last week (Oct. 14-20) with Broncos-Colts on NBC’s Sunday Night Football topping the charts with 26.9 million average viewers, followed by the CBS national telecast (mostly Ravens-Steelers and Texans-Chiefs) drawing 25.3 million viewers.  This marks the seventh time in seven weeks that an NFL game has topped the viewership charts and the sixth time in seven weeks that NFL games are the top two programs of the week.

In addition, NBC’s Sunday Night Football (Colts-Broncos) ranked as the most-watched October NFL primetime telecast in 21 years (33.0 million viewers for Cowboys-Eagles on ABC, 10/5/92) and the most-watched October primetime telecast of any kind since 2005.

For the season, NFL games rank as the 16 most-watched TV shows since Labor Day, up from 11 at this point last season. 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. NBC Sunday Night Football (Broncos-Colts), 10/20 26.9 million
4. FOX Sunday National (mostly Eagles-Broncos), 9/29 26.7 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. NBC Sunday Night Football (Giants-Cowboys), 9/8    25.4 million
9. CBS Sunday National (mostly Ravens-Steelers & Texans-Chiefs), 10/20 25.3 million
10. NBC Thursday Night Kickoff Game (Ravens-Broncos), 9/5 25.1 million
11. NBC Sunday Night Football (Redskins-Cowboys), 10/13 22.1 million
12. FOX Sunday Single (mostly Redskins-Packers & Saints-Buccaneers), 9/15 21.9 million
13. FOX Sunday Single (mostly Packers-Bengals, Giants-Panthers & Rams-Cowboys), 9/22 20.9 million
14. NBC Sunday Night Football (49ers-Seahawks), 9/15 20.5 million
15. NBC Sunday Night Football (Bears-Steelers), 9/22 20.5 million
16. NBC Sunday Night Football (Patriots-Falcons), 9/29 20.5 million

Locally, NFL games topped ratings in 27 NFL markets last week:

Program

# of NFL Markets Ranked #1
NFL Football

27
MLB Playoffs

2
NCIS

1

Following is the list of the NFL markets where football was the top-rated program for the week of Oct. 14-20:

Week of 10/14-20  

 

HH

HH

RTG
Market Game

Date

RTG

SHR

Rank
Denver Broncos at Colts 10/20/2013 49.6 71

1
Indianapolis Broncos at Colts 10/20/2013 49.1 71

1
Kansas City Texans at Chiefs 10/20/2013 48.2 73

1
Milwaukee Browns at Packers 10/20/2013 42.3 69

1
Pittsburgh Ravens at Steelers 10/20/2013 41.6 66

1
Buffalo Bills at Dolphins 10/20/2013 36.6 65

1
Baltimore Ravens at Steelers 10/20/2013 36.4 60

1
Cincinnati Bengals at Lions 10/20/2013 34.8 59

1
Seattle Seahawks at Cardinals** 10/17/2013 32.5 55

1
Boston Patriots at Jets 10/20/2013 32.4 65

1
Chicago Bears at Redskins 10/20/2013 29.9 61

1
Philadelphia Cowboys at Eagles 10/20/2013 29.4 57

1
Houston Texans at Chiefs 10/20/2013 27.4 53

1
Washington, D.C. Bears at Redskins 10/20/2013 26.5 54

1
Cleveland Browns at Packers 10/20/2013 26.3 47

1
New Orleans Broncos at Colts 10/20/2013 26.1 36

1
Dallas Cowboys at Eagles 10/20/2013 25.6 55

1
Charlotte Rams at Panthers 10/20/2013 24.0 47

1
Nashville 49ers at Titans 10/20/2013 23.4 38

1
San Diego Chargers at Jaguars 10/20/2013 22.1 51

1
Phoenix Broncos at Colts 10/20/2013 19.9 33

1
Minneapolis Browns at Packers 10/20/2013 18.5 36

1
Miami Bills at Dolphins 10/20/2013 18.3 40

1
Atlanta Buccaneers at Falcons 10/20/2013 17.4 37

1
Tampa Broncos at Colts 10/20/2013 16.7 28

1
San Fran-Oakland 49ers at Titans 10/20/2013 16.4 41

1
New York Patriots at Jets 10/20/2013 15.7 36

1

* Local affiliate & ESPN combined

** Local affiliate & NFLN combined

Source: NFL & The Nielsen Company

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