The Dallas Cowboys’ 31-28 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs on Thanksgiving Day averaged 57.23 million viewers on CBS, making it the most-watched regular-season game in NFL history.
The early game between Green Bay and Detroit — won by the Packers 31-24 — averaged 47.7 million, making it the second most-watched in league history and the most-watched regular-season game since Fox began carrying the NFL in 1994.
The three games, including the Thanksgiving night matchup between the Cincinnati Bengals and Baltimore Ravens, averaged 44.7 million. That surpasses the previous high of 34.5 million set last season and is the fourth consecutive year the league has set a viewership record on the holiday.
“It’s probably a bigger number than we projected, but again, I think we’re now measuring an audience that wasn’t measured before, which is obviously helpful,” Commissioner Roger Goodell said in an interview with The Associated Press. “We also had great matchups and great games all the way through the weekend. We’re going to have a weekend that will be the most-viewed weekend in the history of the NFL. So we’re thrilled by that.”
Some of the increase can be attributed to a change in the way viewers are counted. Nielsen began using its Big Data + Panel methodology for all events on Sept. 1.
Earlier this year, Nielsen began measuring out-of-home viewers for all states but Hawaii and Alaska, along with including data from smart TVs along with cable and satellite set-top boxes.
Nielsen previously measured just the top 44 media markets, which covered 65% of the country.
“I think some of the work that Nielsen’s did with their initial out-of-home rollout, we saw a big step forward and this next step of capturing the entire country was the next step in that evolution that we think gets to the most accurate view of what our audiences are,” said Hans Schroeder, the NFL’s executive vice president of media distribution. “We still think there’s more opportunity once the big data element gets captured by Nielsen appropriately and captured in a way to reflect our audiences.”
Schroeder also said on a conference call Wednesday that overall ratings are up 6% through the first 12 weeks of the season.
The Cowboys-Chiefs game shattered by 36% the previous league record, which was 42.06 million for the New York Giants-Cowboys game on Fox in 2022. It was also a 47% increase over last year’s late afternoon Thanksgiving game between the Giants and Cowboys (38.84 million).
The audience peaked at 61.36 million for the game’s conclusion.
The previous regular-season mark on CBS was 41.76 million for the 2023 Thanksgiving game between the Washington Commanders and the Cowboys.
“It’s typically the most-viewed time slot every year and we decided to go big. Credit to Hans here for pushing,” CBS Sports President and CEO David Berson said. “It’s the biggest brands the game has now with the Chiefs and the Cowboys. It so happens they were both coming off last-second, come-from-behind victories and they’re fighting for their playoff lives. It was a close game down to the wire. It was a perfect recipe for record-breaking viewership.”
The audience for the Green Bay-Detroit game peaked at 57.96 million. Fox will have next year’s Dallas game, which could set up an interesting decision on which opponent the league and network both choose. The handicapping on that will begin when the teams know their home and away opponents at the conclusion of the regular season.
“I think it was entirely strategically correct to really go for it this year and try to get the biggest number. I think next year we’re going to have to think about how aggressive we want to be, because at some level it is a little bit zero sum,” said Mike Mulvihill, Fox Sports president, insight and analytics. “There will have to be some thought given to not necessarily going with the biggest game available, but going with something that’s going to drive a lot of viewership and drive revenue.”
The Bengals’ 32-14 win over the Ravens also set a mark for the most-watched Thanksgiving night game. Joe Burrow’s return to the Bengals lineup averaged 28.4 million on NBC. The previous record was 27.8 million when the Bears faced Green Bay in 2015 when Brett Favre’s jersey was retired at halftime.
“Football’s had a phenomenal season, so it’s not just a one-day exercise where we see these record ratings. We are in our 20th season of ‘Sunday Night Football’ and this is the highest season we’ve ever had. We’re up 10% on last year, and so the NFL has never been stronger,” NBC Sports President Rick Cornella said.