Week 2 of the 2022 NFL season featured a rare Dallas Cowboys game on CBS, which resulted in a three-year high in the national window.
The window, highlighted by the Cowboys’ win over the Bengals, averaged 27.389 million viewers. That’s by far the most-watched window of the week, and is good for the most-watched national window on CBS since Week 14 of the 2019 season. That game window featured a Chiefs win over the Patriots in New England. Last year, CBS also had the Cowboys in the national window in Week 2, and their matchup with the Chargers averaged 24.29 million viewers.
.@NFLonCBS Continues Impressive Start to Season Across All Platforms with Massive Week 2 Viewership
Release: https://t.co/C1hq2s5u9T pic.twitter.com/QywVu5DYPt
— CBS Sports PR (@CBSSportsGang) September 20, 2022
Additionally, that late window was good for the most-watched September window on CBS since 1998, the first year after CBS regained NFL rights.
The early window on CBS, which featured four games (with most of the country getting Patriots-Steelers), drew 14.077 million viewers. Last week, the early window on CBS averaged 17.387 million viewers. A year ago, the window averaged 14.18 million viewers, with Raiders-Steelers going to most of the country.
In their singleheader, Fox averaged 16.228 million viewers for a five-game slate led by Bucs-Saints. Last year, Fox’s Week 2 singleheader averaged 18.47 million viewers.
On Sunday night, NBC picked up 20.8 million viewers across the broadcast network and digital platforms (19.545 million on NBC proper). Last week, 25.1 million viewers watched the Cowboys-Bucs matchup, while 20.8 million also watched the Chiefs-Ravens last year on all platforms.
On Monday night, Titans-Bills averaged 7.921 million viewers between ESPN and ESPN2, while Vikings-Eagles averaged 12.858 million on ABC, an average of 10.39 million viewers between the two games. I don’t know what to make of the viewership for the evening, given that it was a staggered doubleheader with many of the two games being played at the same time. ESPN’s traditional doubleheader averaged 11.85 million viewers in 2019 and 9.23 million viewers in 2020. The doubleheader shifted to the Saturday of Week 18 in the 2021 season, averaging 19.66 million viewers. I guess ESPN will be fine with viewership for the doubleheader, given that it falls right between the previous two early season doubleheaders, which aired back to back instead of at the same time.
[Data via ShowBuzz Daily, Sports Media Watch]