NFL Still King: Week 1 Averages Record-Setting 21 Million Viewers Per Game

The numbers are in, and the NFL is still king — averaging 21 million viewers per game during its opening week. TV and digital streaming ratings indicate it was the most-watched Week 1 on record and a 12% increase over last season.

The 2024 NFL season started strong on Thursday night with the Baltimore Ravens-Kansas City Chiefs kickoff game on NBC, which drew 29.2 million viewers. That’s the largest-ever NFL Kickoff audience and NBC’s second-largest regular-season audience ever (after a Washington-Dallas Week 17 game in 2012 that drew 30.3 million viewers).

More than 29 million people tuned into watch the Chiefs' 27-20 win over the Ravens on the NFL's opening night.

(Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Image)

Then came the Friday night game from Sao Paolo, Brazil, between the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers. Despite the broadcast being, well, not great and available only via streaming on Peacock, the international game still averaged 14 million viewers. 

For some perspective, that’s the second-largest audience ever to watch a live event on Peacock — after last season’s AFC wild-card game between the Chiefs and Miami Dolphins. The figure nearly doubled last December’s Buffalo Bills-Los Angeles Chargers regular season game, which drew 7.3 million viewers.

Proving once again: NFL Fans Will Complain About A Game On Peacock, But They're Going To Watch It Anyway

"I think the numbers even exceeded our expectations. Brazil was great, and the game was an exciting one," EVP of NFL Media Hans Schroeder said. "On a new night and window, I think that was a phenomenal start for us."

NFL Ratings Set Week 1 Record

Sunday's games saw another spike in viewership:

• An average of 23.8 million tuned in to watch Tom Brady's broadcasting debut during the Dallas Cowboys-Cleveland Browns game on Sunday afternoon. Despite a blowout win for Dallas that was largely unexciting for the average fan, the game was up 46% from the comparable game to open last season and was the network’s most-watched Week 1 game since 2020.
• An average of 22.7 million watched the Detroit Lions' overtime win over the Los Angeles Rams in the season debut of Sunday Night Football. That figure was 3% higher than the comparable Cowboys-Giants Sunday prime-time opener to begin the 2023 season. The Thursday and Sunday nights combined to give NBC Sports its best two-game NFL opening weekend since 2015.

Finally, Monday's game between the New York Jets and San Francisco 49ers — the much-awaited return of Aaron Rodgers from his Achilles injury — drew 20.5 million viewers, a number ESPN touted as the second-largest Week 1 Monday Night Football audience since Monday games moved to The Worldwide Leader from ABC in 2006.

It's worth noting, though, that the ESPN press release regarding the Week 1 TV audience omitted any mention of the Manningcast. For the first time since the Peyton and Eli show debuted three years ago as an alternate MNF broadcast, ESPN did not include the specific ESPN2 audience when announcing the total number.

And there may be a reason for that: According to Sports Business Daily, ManningCast's 2024 season debut sank to an all-time low of just 872,000 viewers — a 43% drop from Week 1 in 2023.

And that's despite legendary head coach Bill Belichick making an appearance on the broadcast.

Still, the weekend's viewership set the pace for a strong 2024 season for the NFL. We'll see if the league can sustain these ratings and continue to crush the competition as the Presidential Election season heats up.