The NFL averaged 18.7 million viewers per game during the 2025 regular season that was completed last weekend, the second-highest number since audience averages began being kept in 1988.
The per-game average on TV and digital platforms was a 10% increase from last season’s 17.5 million and up 7% from the 2023 season, according to the league and Nielsen. It also was just off the record average of 19 million, which was set in 1989.
Some of the increase can be attributed to a change in the way viewers are counted. Nielsen began using its Big Data + Panel methodology for all events last September with the start of the current television season.
Earlier this season, Nielsen began measuring out-of-home viewers for all states but Alaska and Hawaii, along with including data from smart TVs with cable and satellite set-top boxes.
Nielsen previously measured only the top 44 media markets, which covered 65% of the country.
All five of the league’s weekly packages experienced viewer increases. Amazon Prime Video’s “Thursday Night Football” had the biggest gains at 16%. CBS also had a double-digit increase at 11%. ESPN/ABC’s “Monday Night Football” and NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” were both up 9%, and Fox had a 6% jump.
This was the most-watched NFL package on Thursday nights since the league started it in 2006. The 15.33 million average surpassed the 13.65 million from 2019, when the games were on Fox, NFL Network and Prime Video.
Since Prime Video started to be the exclusive home of “Thursday Night Football” in 2022, the audience has increased 60%. The first season averaged 9.58 million as audiences had to adjust to a regular package of games moving to a streaming service.
Eight games this season averaged at least 15 million viewers, compared to four the first three seasons.
The Denver Broncos’ win over the Kansas City Chiefs in the night slot on Christmas averaged 21.06 million, breaking Prime’s 19.39 million mark for most-watched matchup from the Dec. 4 game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Detroit Lions.
CBS averaged 21.25 million, its best regular-season on record. The network’s national late-afternoon games averaged 25.83 million, the third straight year it has defeated Fox in that window.
The Thanksgiving game between the Chiefs and the Dallas Cowboys averaged 57.23 million, making it the most-watched regular-season game in NFL history. According to Nielsen, the game generated 11.7 billion viewing minutes on Nov. 27 and was the top broadcast telecast of November. By comparison, “Stranger Things” on Netflix totaled 11.8 billion viewing minutes across the entire month since it was available on demand.
CBS’ most-viewed Sunday game was between the Chiefs and the Buffalo Bills on Nov. 2, which averaged 30.84 million.
CBS ended up having four of the 10 most-viewed games.
NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” averaged 23.5 million viewers, putting it on pace to be the top-ranked show in prime time for the 15th straight year when the television season ends in May.
However, NBC’s two most-watched games were not on Sunday night. The NFL’s 2025 regular-season opener on Sept. 4 between the visiting Cowboys and the Philadelphia Eagles — who received their Super Bowl championship rings that night — averaged 28.3 million, while 27.9 million tuned in on Thanksgiving to watch the Baltimore Ravens and the Cincinnati Bengals in prime time.
Eight games averaged at least 25 million. The most-watched game on Sunday night was between the Chiefs and the Lions on Oct. 12 (27.4 million).
NBC is also expected to have the most-watched show of the television season as it has Super Bowl LX on Feb. 8.
“Monday Night Football” averaged 15.8 million viewers for the 21-game package, the second-highest average since it moved to ESPN in 2006. That included two games exclusively on ABC, and 11 simulcasts.
Five games exceeded 20 million, the most since MNF moved to ESPN. The Lions Ravens matchup on Sept. 22 averaged 22.8 million, the fourth most-watched Monday night game in 20 seasons.
Including the two Saturday games last weekend, ESPN’s average for the season increases to 16.5 million. Last Saturday night’s game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Seattle Seahawks for the NFC’s top seed in the playoffs drew 27.5 million, the most-watched regular-season finale across all networks this year.
Fox Sports averaged 19.63 million, its best regular season since 2015. “America’s Game of the Week” in the late-afternoon slot averaged 25.28 million, led by the Super Bowl LIX rematch between the Chiefs and the Eagles on Sept. 14 (33.8 million). It was one of the rare instances when the network that had the previous Super Bowl also got the rematch.
Fox’s most-viewed game was on Thanksgiving, with the Lions’ early afternoon matchup with the Green Bay Packers at 47.7 million. Fox also had four of the 10 most-viewed games.
The NFL also continues to be a huge driver for streaming packages.
In October data, Nielsen said Peacock experienced a 16% viewing increase, Paramount Plus was up 8% from September, and Prime Video had a 6.4% average of TV viewing on Thursdays.