After epic opening-game ratings (thanks, no doubt, to a groundswell of promotion), you had to think the NFL’s first weekend would score well with the viewers. But this well?
According to a release from the NFL and Neilsen, the kickoff weekend was the most-watched one in 23 years (when the ratings service started keeping track of such things).
Twenty-eight million viewers saw the Fox national game, breaking last year’s record of 25.1 million, while 16.2 million viewed CBS’s 1 p.m. match.
The games did even better locally.
“NFL games ranked first in all 30 NFL markets and in 48 of Nielsen’s 56 metered markets (85.7%) – up from 83.9% of all markets in 2009 and 73.2% in 2008 and 2007,” the release states.
New Orleans, Minnesota, Baltimore, San Diego, Arizona, and Seattle all “delivered record-setting ratings for season-openers in their home markets.” And here’s a chart.
