The NFL, my friends, is absolutely blowing up right now. Through Week 9, this league is pulling in an average of 18.3 million viewers per game, and that’s not just a good number, that’s the *second-highest audience average on record* for this point in the season, a solid 2% bump from 2025. After last season hit a 36-year high in viewership, you’d think it’d be tough to climb higher, but nope, the NFL’s dominance across U.S. media is absolutely locked in, owning the top 49 shows since this TV season even started.
Weekday Action Is King, Making History
Seriously, if you’re wondering how they’re doing it, look no further than the weekday games. These packages are absolutely crushing it. ESPN’s Monday Night Football? Forget about it! They’re averaging a whopping 19 million viewers, which is a massive 24% increase from this time last year. And get this: they’re gearing up for their first Super Bowl in February, so you know they’re hyped. ESPN has already set multiple individual game records for MNF broadcasts this season. That Bills-Vikings game this week pulled in an insane 21.7 million viewers, making it the best Week 9 broadcast in ESPN’s entire MNF era, which kicked off back in 2006. That focused schedule after their big equity deal with the NFL is clearly paying off.
Then you’ve got Amazon’s Thursday Night Football. They’re averaging 17.2 million viewers, a solid 13% jump from midseason last year and even up 12% from their *full-season record* set in 2025. Those double-digit week-to-week audience increases confirm what we’ve all been seeing: Amazon got a seriously improved schedule this year, and they’re making the most of it. This weekday strength, by the way, is a massive counter to all the noise about the perceived lessening of Sunday broadcast windows, which has been under some serious governmental pressure lately, even with the number of Sunday games staying flat.
Sunday Still Strong, But With a Catch
While the weekdays are stealing the show, Sunday isn’t exactly slacking off. CBS is pulling in an average of 19.5 million viewers and is on pace for its most-watched season ever. They even own the top two most-watched games so far this season, both those wild AFC West matchups featuring the Chiefs, and three of the top five. Fox is clocking in at 18.5 million viewers, and NBC’s Sunday Night Football is leading the pack with 22.5 million viewers. Both Fox and NBC are slightly off their full-season averages from 2025, but let’s be real, those are still monster numbers. Oh, and the NFL Network, now under ESPN’s umbrella, just wrapped up a record-setting run of international games on Sunday mornings. The league is doing work everywhere, man.
So, what’s next? The league is charging headfirst into the holiday season with Thanksgiving and Christmas matchups on the horizon, including a brand-new Thanksgiving Eve game on Netflix. But man, that late afternoon Thanksgiving Day game on Fox, usually the pinnacle of the entire regular season? An Eagles-Cowboys matchup that initially had huge hype is now certain to include at least one, and potentially two, losing teams. It’s gonna have way less juice this year, which is a bit of a bummer, but hey, you can’t win ’em all. Still, the overall picture? The NFL is soaring, and it’s wild to watch.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
Leave a Reply