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 Beginning with the Thursday night NFL season opener, viewers across the country tuned their televisions to NFL games in record numbers last week.
The FOX doubleheader game (mostly Redskins-Giants) was the most-watched Week 1 Sunday game on record with 25.1 million viewers (Nielsen average viewer records date back to 1987).
Three Kickoff Weekend games – The FOX game noted above and the two NBC primetime games were watched by more than 20 million viewers and are the most-watched sporting events since Super Bowl XLIII (see the chart below).
Following are the most-watched sporting events since Super Bowl XLIII:
|
Program (Game)
|
Viewers
|
|
1. FOX Sunday National (mostly Redskins-Giants), 9/13
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25.1 million
|
|
2. NBC Sunday Night Football (Bears-Packers), 9/13
|
21.1 million
|
|
3. NBC Kickoff Thursday (Titans-Steelers), 9/10
|
20.9 million
|
|
4. CBS NCAA Basketball Champ. (Michigan St.-UNC), 4/6
|
17.6 million
|
|
5. NBC Kentucky Derby, 5/2
|
16.1 million
|
NBC’s two games averaged 21 million viewers, marking the highest Thursday-Sunday primetime average for NBC since the current Kickoff Weekend schedule was implemented in 2002. Last Thursday night’s pregame NFL Kickoff Concert on NBC featuring Tim McGraw and The Black Eyed Peas was the most-watched NFL Kickoff Concert ever with 9.6 million viewers.
ESPN’s Kickoff Weekend Monday night doubleheader games drew the two largest audiences on cable this year – 14.0 million viewers for Bills-Patriots and 11.9 million viewers for Chargers-Raiders. The two MNF games combined for ESPN’s most-viewed season-opening doubleheader since the format started in 2006.
NFL games topped the local ratings in all 30 NFL markets, the second Kickoff Weekend in three years in which all NFL games were tops locally.
Select Read More to see the NFL markets where football was the top-rated program for the week of Sept. 7-13
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Week of 9/7 - 9/13
|
|
|
HH
|
HH
|
RTG
|
|
Market
|
Game
|
Date
|
RTG
|
SHR
|
Rank
|
|
Pittsburgh
|
Titans at Steelers
|
9/10/09
|
49.6
|
70
|
1
|
|
Milwaukee
|
Bears at Packers
|
9/13/09
|
41.5
|
60
|
1
|
|
Nashville
|
Titans at Steelers
|
9/10/09
|
40.1
|
56
|
1
|
|
New Orleans
|
Lions at Saints
|
9/13/09
|
39.3
|
57
|
1
|
|
Chicago
|
Bears at Packers
|
9/13/09
|
34.8
|
53
|
1
|
|
Cincinnati
|
Broncos at Bengals
|
9/13/09
|
27.7
|
54
|
1
|
|
Indianapolis
|
Jaguars at Colts
|
9/13/09
|
27.6
|
55
|
1
|
|
Minneapolis
|
Vikings at Browns
|
9/13/09
|
27.6
|
63
|
1
|
|
Kansas City
|
Chiefs at Ravens
|
9/13/09
|
27.3
|
55
|
1
|
|
Baltimore
|
Chiefs at Ravens
|
9/13/09
|
27.1
|
54
|
1
|
|
Denver
|
Broncos at Bengals
|
9/13/09
|
26.0
|
56
|
1
|
|
Washington, DC
|
Redskins at NY Giants
|
9/13/09
|
25.7
|
50
|
1
|
|
Cleveland
|
Vikings at Browns
|
9/13/09
|
25.5
|
55
|
1
|
|
Dallas
|
Cowboys at Bucs
|
9/13/09
|
25.2
|
50
|
1
|
|
Phoenix
|
49ers at Cardinals
|
9/13/09
|
23.9
|
44
|
1
|
|
Tampa
|
Cowboys at Bucs
|
9/13/09
|
23.3
|
43
|
1
|
|
Jacksonville
|
Jaguars at Colts
|
9/13/09
|
23.0
|
39
|
1
|
|
Philadelphia
|
Eagles at Panthers
|
9/13/09
|
22.4
|
47
|
1
|
|
Seattle
|
Rams at Seahawks
|
9/13/09
|
20.6
|
51
|
1
|
|
Charlotte
|
Eagles at Panthers
|
9/13/09
|
20.2
|
39
|
1
|
|
Miami
|
Dolphins at Falcons
|
9/13/09
|
19.8
|
40
|
1
|
|
Atlanta
|
Dolphins at Falcons
|
9/13/09
|
19.6
|
38
|
1
|
|
Detroit
|
Lions at Saints
|
9/13/09
|
18.7
|
43
|
1
|
|
St. Louis
|
Rams at Seahawks
|
9/13/09
|
17.7
|
38
|
1
|
|
San Diego
|
Bears at Packers
|
9/13/09
|
17.0
|
28
|
1
|
|
Buffalo
|
Titans at Steelers
|
9/10/09
|
16.5
|
27
|
1
|
|
San Fran-Oakland
|
49ers at Cardinals
|
9/13/09
|
15.1
|
38
|
1
|
|
New York
|
Redskins at NY Giants
|
9/13/09
|
14.7
|
29
|
1
|
|
Houston
|
Jets at Texans
|
9/13/09
|
14.3
|
29
|
1
|
|
Boston
|
Titans at Steelers
|
9/10/09
|
11.6
|
22
|
1
|
Source: NFL & Nielsen Media Research
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