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NFL announces 3% DECREASE in ratings for 2022 regular season after Amazon Prime replaced Fox with Thursday Night Football…but 185 MILLION fans stayed tuned during the 18-week schedule
- NFL regular season ratings have been announced and they are down three percent
- The drop is partly due to Amazon Prime taking Thursday Night Football from Fox
- The average audience of 16.7 million, despite the drop, is the third highest since 2016.
- Over the course of the season, 185 million fans tuned in to watch the action.
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Viewers for the NFL regular season saw a 3% decline from last season, which was not unexpected as ‘Thursday Night Football’ transitioned from Fox and NFL Network to streaming exclusively on Amazon Prime Video.
The 272 regular season games averaged 16.7 million viewers on television and digital platforms. The league also said 185 million fans watched games at some point during the 18 weeks.
Despite the drop, it’s the third-highest average since 2016. Last season he averaged 17.1 million.
A whopping 185 million fans watched the NFL over the course of the 2022 regular season
Thursday Night Football’s move to Amazon contributed to a 3% decline in viewing figures
NBC, Fox, and CBS all saw increases in viewers over the past season. Viewership for ESPN had declined, but tended to be flat or slightly up if the January 2 game between the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals had been played. Play was suspended midway through the first quarter when Bills safety Damar Hamlin went into cardiac arrest.
According to Nielsen figures, the ‘Thursday Night Football’ 15-game package on Prime Video averaged 9.58 million viewers. Amazon’s own audience measurement showed an average of 11.3 million.
Amazon told advertisers it was estimating an average audience of 12.6 million based on Nielsen numbers. Amazon signed a three-year deal with Nielsen to track ratings. It was the first time Nielsen had tracked and included ratings from a streaming service.
The additional numbers from Amazon’s tracking were due to the company’s ability to measure viewing on connected TVs, its apps, and who might be watching a separate stream on Twitch.
Regular season games averaged 16.7 million viewers across digital and television platforms.
The NFL accounted for 82 of the top 100 most-watched television broadcasts in the country during the calendar year.
By comparison, Fox, NFL Network and Prime Video’s triplet broadcast “Thursday Night Football” averaged 16.4 million.
The numbers, however, showed growth in other areas. Viewers on the 18-34 demo averaged 2.11 million, up 11% from last season. The average age of viewers was 47, seven years younger compared to other games.
Even with the games only available via streaming, ‘Thursday Night Football’ was the most watched show 13 out of 15 times. One of the times he was beaten was Game 5 of the World Series.
The biggest jump was CBS’s national game window. The 10 games at 4:25 p.m. ET averaged 23.50 million, an increase of 8%. The overall CBS average was 18.49 million, up 2%.
Fox saw 4% gains on both its total number (19.42 million) and the domestic 10-game package in the last window (24.13 million). Fox has six postseason games this season, including the Super Bowl.
Hall of Famer Tony González was among the Amazon Prime analyst team for the 2022 season
NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” was up 3% with an average of 19.9 million. Nine of Sunday night’s games averaged at least 20 million, which was their best performance in three years.
ESPN’s package of 15 ‘Monday Night Football’ games and two Saturday games in week 18 saw an average of 13.79 million, a decrease of 3%.
ESPN and ABC aired two Monday night games at the same time on September 19. Factoring in those games, the average fell to 13.41 million over 19 games.
The Buffalo-Cincinnati game was averaging 21.1 million before Hamlin’s collapse. The average grew to 23.9 million over the last hour. Since the game was cancelled, ESPN has not included the numbers in its final average.
The season opener between Denver and Seattle, which was Russell Wilson’s first game with the Broncos and against his former team, had a viewership of 19.8 million, the highest viewership for MNF since the package passed to ESPN. in 2006.
The most viewed games ended up being on Thanksgiving. The New York Giants-Dallas Cowboys contest on Fox averaged 42.1 million and the first game between the Buffalo Bills and Detroit Lions on CBS saw 31.9 million.
NBC’s highest viewership also came on Thanksgiving Day, with the prime-time game between the New England Patriots and Minnesota Vikings drawing 25.6 million, the ninth-best during the regular season.
Fox had five of the top 10 games, while CBS had four and NBC one.
Regular season games were ranked as the top 25 and 47 of the top 50.