Buffalo Bills fans hold signs in support of Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin prior to the game … [+]
Sports in general and the NFL in particular dominated television viewing in 2022. According to recently released data from Nielsen
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Four of the remaining six telecasts were live news events that aired on multiple channels; the State of the Union address, mid-term election results, the first telecast of the January 6 committee hearing and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s address at the US Capitol. Rounding out the top 100 were the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and the Oscars. There were no World Series games or NBA Finals games that cracked the top 100.
Sports has been rightfully called the last sustainable remnant of linear television’s once dominance. According to Sporticothe most watched scripted entertainment telecast of the year was the premiere Yellowstone’s fifth season which aired across several Paramount
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Average Audience Regular Season
NFL Games (in millions)
2022 16.7
2021 17.1
2020 15.4
2019 16.5
2018 15.8
2017 15.0
2016 16.5
2015 18.7
2014 17.6
Source: Nielsen
Despite its continued ratings dominance, NFL viewership declined for the 2022 regular season. Across all viewing sources, the average audience totaled 16.7 million, compared to 17.1 million in 2021. The primary reason for the slight drop-off was Amazon
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Amazon Prime: In its first regular season of NFL coverage, Nielsen reported Amazon with an average of 9.6 million viewers which included any over-the-air and out-of-home viewing. (Amazon’s first-party viewership measurement reported 11.3 million viewers.) Amazon’s games were the lowest rated Thursday night since 2013 when the NFL Network exclusively aired TNF. Last season Thursday games averaged 16.4 million viewers. However, Thursday Night Football was the most watched program on all of television for 13 of the 15 Thursday games.
Amazon noted their Thursday night games had a median age of 47, seven years younger than NFL games on linear television. Also, Amazon reported that 49% of its audience were persons 18-49, compared to 35% for NFL games on linear television and 22% for all linear prime time television. Nielsen reports Amazon Prime’s football coverage had a household median income of $98,500, higher than linear television at $82,800.
NBC: NBC’s Sunday Night Football is on track to be television’s highest rated prime time program for an unprecedented 12 consecutive years. For 2022, NBC’s Sunday Night package of NFL games averaged a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of 19.9 million viewers, an increase of 3% from 2021 (19.3 million). It was their highest audience since 2019. For the season NBC had nine games that averaged over 20 million viewers, compared to five in 2021. The final game of the year (Detroit vs. Green Bay) averaged 23.6 million viewers, NBC’s most watched season finale since 2016. NBC’s highest rated game of the season was on Thanksgiving evening (New England vs. Minnesota) at 24.8 million viewers. For the opening weekend, Sunday Night Football averaged 23.2 million viewers (Tampa vs. Dallas).
In 2022, Sunday Night Football set an audience record on digital media (Peacock, NBCSports.com, the NBC Sports app, and NFL Digital properties) with an average minute audience of 1.17 million. The AMA was a 36% increase from 2021 (843,000) and marked the first time Sunday Night Football’s digital audience surpassed one million viewers.
CBS: NFL games on CBS averaged 18.5 million viewers for the 2022 season, its highest audience delivery in seven years. The ten national games with a late 4:25 pm (ET) start time, averaged 23.5 million viewers. The highest rated telecast on CBS was the early Thanksgiving Day game (Buffalo vs. Detroit) which averaged 31.6 million viewers. The contest was the most watched early Thanksgiving Day game since at least 1988. Another ratings highlight was during the final week of the season (New England vs. Buffalo) which averaged 22.7 million viewers, a 35% increase from the corresponding game of 2021 and the most watched final week telecast since 2011.
Fox: For the 2022 regular season games on Fox, the network averaged 19.4 million viewers, a 4% increase from the previous year. “America’s Game of the Week”, the 4:25 pm (ET) games averaged 24.1 million viewers making it the most watched program on television for the 14th consecutive year.
The most watched game of the regular season (and all-time) was the 4:25 pm (ET) game on Thanksgiving (New York Giants vs. Dallas), which averaged 42.1 million viewers. The audience delivery surpassed the 41.5 million generated in a December 1990 Monday night game on ABC between the Giants and San Francisco. By comparison, last season’s late afternoon Thanksgiving game between Las Vegas and Dallas averaged 40.8 million viewers. The Thanksgiving Day game kicked off a sports weekend extravaganza on Fox, with the US playing England in World Cup soccer the following day and college football rivals and undefeated Ohio State playing undefeated Michigan on Saturday.
The three Thanksgiving games were the highest rated regular season game on CBS, Fox and NBC and averaged 33.5 million viewers. Next season, Amazon Prime will televise an NFL game on “Black Friday”.
ESPN/ABC: The most watched Monday Night Football game Cincinnati vs. Buffalo was billed as a marquee matchup between two Super Bowl contenders. The game ended up being something entirely different. Midway in the first quarter Buffalo’s Daman Hamlin collapsed and went into cardiac arrest with his heart stopping twice after making a tackle. With Hamlin rushed to an area hospital, the game was soon postponed and later canceled. With the incident making headlines nationwide, ESPN’s coverage ended at 10:09 pm (ET) with an average audience of 23.8 million viewers, the most watched Monday Night Football “game” since ESPN began televising the game in 2006.
For the season Monday Night Football averaged 13.8 million viewers, a 3% decline from 2021. (Ratings excluded the Buffalo-Cincinnati game.) A ratings highlight was the season opener; Denver vs. Seattle which averaged 19.8 million viewers.
Christmas: With the NFL’s continued dominance of Thanksgiving and with Christmas falling on a Sunday, the league televised three games. The games competed head-to-head with five NBA games airing on ABC/ESPN. It turned out to be no contest, the NFL games averaged 21.9 million viewers compared to 4.3 million for NBA games.
Reasons for record viewing: Besides the marketing clout of the NFL, continued strong ratings can be attributed to several other reasons. Two years ago, Nielsen began adding out-of-home viewers to their average audience. As a result, OOH audiences have been included in all telecasts with the NFL (and other premier live sports) benefiting the most. For example, among the record high 42.1 million average audience for the Thanksgiving Day game on Fox, 39% (16.6 million) watched the game from outside their home.
Also, the availability of legalized wagering continues to grow. Before the start of the 2022 season, the American Gaming Association forecast a record 46.6 million US adults (18%) were planning to bet on NFL games, a 3% increase from 2021. Another reason is the continued popularity and growth of fantasy football ( another form of wagering). Before the start of the 2022 season, ESPN, which hosts the most popular fantasy football game, had a record 11 million people participating and 17.6 million fantasy teams in 2022.
Another reason to keep viewers watching (especially if you are betting or in a fantasy league) was the amount of close scoring games. Axios reported during the 2022 season a record 122 of the 271 (45%) games played were decided by six points or less. The previous high was in 2016 when 107 of the 256 games (41.8%).
Finally, the emergence of digital media as a viewing source which attracts a desirable younger and more affluent audience. Regular season games are now available on television streaming partners such as NBC’s Peacock and CBS’ Paramount+. Furthermore, although Amazon Prime failed to meet their audience guarantees for TNF, its coverage was well received by viewers. Next year, the NFL will continue to expand its digital footprint when the Season Ticket package of out-of-market games moves to YouTube from DirecTV in a seven-year agreement at $2 billion per annum.
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