NFL Games and All Other Audience Disparities Widen

NFL Games and All Other Audience Disparities Widen

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Sports in general, and the NFL in particular, dominated TV viewing in 2022. According to recently published data from Nielsen,NLSN
, sports accounted for 94 of the 100 most-watched telecasts last year.The NFL alone accounted for 82 of the 100 most-watched telecasts, up from 75 in 2021. The highest-rated sporting events for the rest of the year were five college football games, three World Cup games, two college basketball games, and one Winter Olympics game. after the Super Bowl) and the Kentucky Derby.

Four of the remaining six telecasts were live news events that aired on multiple channels. State of the Union address, results of midterm elections, first telecast of committee hearings on January 6, Ukrainian President Volodymyr his Zelensky speech at the United States Capitol. Rounding out the top 100 were the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and the Oscars. None of his World Series games were in the top 100 or his NBA Finals game.

Sports has been called the last sustainable remnant of linear television’s former dominance. Sporticothe most-watched scripted entertainment telecast of the year was the premiere of of yellowstone A fifth season aired on several ParamountPara
global network. The show averaged just 12.5 million viewers. The highest rated entertainment programs for the whole of 2022 are: FBI on CBS, which averaged just 7.2 million viewers.

Average Viewership Regular Season

NFL games (million)

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 continued ratings dominance, NFL viewership declined in the 2022 regular season. Average viewership across all viewing sources went from 17.1 million in 2021 to 16.7 million in 2021. Amazon was the main reason for the slight decline.AMZN
Exclusive Prime Coverage thursday night football It replaced last season’s Tricast on Fox, NFL Network and Amazon Prime.

Amazon Prime: Nielsen reported an average of 9.6 million viewers on Amazon for the NFL’s first regular season. (Amazon’s first-party viewership measurement reports 11.3 million viewers.) Amazon’s game has been his first Thursday night hit since 2013, when the NFL Network exclusively aired his TNF. was the lowest rating. He averaged 16.4 million viewers for Thursday games last season. Nevertheless, thursday night football It was the most-watched program on all TV in 13 of 15 games on Thursday.

According to Amazon, the median age for Thursday night’s game was 47, seven years younger than NFL games on linear TV. Amazon also reported that 49% of his viewers are from He’s 18 to He’s 49. This contrasts with 35% of NFL games on linear TV and 22% of all linear prime time TV. Nielsen reports that Amazon Prime’s median household income for soccer coverage is $98,500, ahead of linear TV’s $82,800.

NBC: NBC’s sunday night football will be television’s highest-rated prime-time show for an unprecedented 12 consecutive years. In 2022, NBC’s Sunday Night for NFL Games total viewership (TAD) for his package averaged 19.9 million, a 3% increase from 2021 (19.3 million). It was the highest number of viewers since 2019. During the season, NBC played his nine games averaging over 20 million viewers, compared to his five games in 2021. The final game of the year (Detroit vs. Green Bay) was NBC’s most-watched season, averaging 23.6 million viewers. Finale since 2016. NBC’s highest-rated game of the season was Thanksgiving Night (New England vs. Minnesota), with 24.8 million viewers. Opening weekend Sunday Night Football averaged 23.2 million viewers (Tampa vs. Dallas).

In 2022, sunday night football Digital Media (Peacock, NBCSports.com, NBC Sports App, NFL Digital Properties) set a record average viewership per minute of 1.17 million. The AMA said he’s up 36% from 2021 (843,000), and Sunday Night Football’s digital viewership has surpassed 1 million for the first time.

CBS: An NFL game on CBS averaged 18.5 million viewers for the 2022 season, the highest viewership in seven years. His 10-game average viewership with a start time of 4:25 p.m. ET was his 23.5 million viewers. CBS’s highest-rated telecast was an early Thanksgiving game (Buffalo vs. Detroit), which averaged 31.6 million viewers for him. The contest was the most watched game early on Thanksgiving since at least 1988. Another ratings highlight was the final week of the season (New England vs. Buffalo), which averaged 22.7 million viewers, up 35% from its 2021 counterpart and was the most watched game since 2011. Last week’s television broadcast.

fox: The 2022 regular season games on Fox averaged 19.4 million viewers for the network, up 4% from the previous year. “America’s Game of the Week” at 4:25 p.m. ET The game averaged 24.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched show on television in 14 years.th consecutive years.

The most watched game of the regular season (and all) was the 4:25 PM ET game on Thanksgiving (New York Giants vs. Dallas), averaging 42.1 million viewers. Viewership surpassed his 41.5 million generated in December 1990 for a Monday night game between the Giants and San Francisco on ABC. By comparison, he averaged 40.8 million viewers for the Thanksgiving game between Las Vegas and Dallas last season in the late afternoon. The Thanksgiving game kicked off a weekend of sports festivities at Fox, with the United States playing England in World Cup soccer the next day and college football rivals and undefeated Ohio State taking on undefeated Michigan on Saturday. .

The three Thanksgiving games were the highest rated regular season games on CBS, Fox and NBC, averaging 33.5 million viewers. Next season, Amazon Prime will air his NFL games on “Black Friday.”

ESPN/ABC: most watched monday night football The game Cincinnati vs. Buffalo was billed as a marquee matchup between two Super Bowl contenders. Midway through the first quarter, Buffalo’s Daman Hamlin went down and went into cardiac arrest when his heart stopped twice after making a tackle. The game was quickly postponed and later canceled due to Hamlin’s rush to the area hospital. ESPN’s coverage ended at 10:09 p.m. ET as the incident received national coverage, and he was the most watched with an average of 23.8 million viewers. monday night football “Games” ever since ESPN began televising games in 2006.

for the season monday night football Average viewership was 13.8 million, down 3% from 2021 (ratings don’t include Buffalo vs. Cincinnati). Denver vs. Seattle averaged 19.8 million viewers.

Christmas: As the NFL continued to dominate Thanksgiving and Christmas fell on Sunday, the league aired three games. The game went head-to-head with his five NBA games televised on ABC/ESPN. Turns out it’s not a contest. NFL games averaged 21.9 million viewers, while NBA games averaged 4.3 million viewers.

Reason for viewing record: In addition to the NFL’s marketing clout, there are several possible reasons for its continued high ratings. Two years ago, Nielsen began adding out-of-home viewers to the average viewer. As a result, OOH audiences are included in all television broadcasts, with the NFL (and other major live sports) benefiting the most. For example, of the record average viewership of 42.1 million for Fox’s Thanksgiving Day game, 39% (16.6 million) watched the game from outside his home.

Also, the availability of legalized betting continues to grow. Before the 2022 season begins, the American Gaming Association predicts that a record 46.6 million U.S. adults (18%) plan to bet on his NFL games. This is a 3% increase from 2021. Another reason is the continued popularity and growth of fantasy football (another form of betting). Before the 2022 season began, ESPN, which hosts the most popular fantasy football game, hit a record 11 million attendees and his 17.6 million fantasy team in 2022.

Another reason viewers keep watching (especially if they’re betting or participating in fantasy leagues) is the number of close games. Axios The previous best was 107 out of 256 games played in 2016 (41.8%).

Finally, digital media has emerged as a viewing source, attracting younger and affluent audiences. Regular season games are now available on TV streaming partners such as NBC’s Peacock and CBS’ Paramount+. Additionally, Amazon Prime failed to meet his TNF audience guarantee, but its coverage was well received by audiences. Next year, the NFL will continue to expand its digital footprint as he transitions from DirecTV to YouTube on his seven-year contract whose package includes season tickets for out-of-market games of $2 billion a year.



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