According to a company press release, nearly 32 million people watched Lamar Jackson's dominant performance in the Baltimore Ravens' 34-10 victory over the Houston Texans on Saturday night, making it the most-watched NFL game in ESPN history. The game was broadcast on ESPN, ABC, ESPN+ and ESPN Deportes.
Viewership of 31.8 million viewers – which rose to a high of 36.2 million in the third quarter – surpassed the company's record of 31.2 million viewers set on January 16, 2023, when the Dallas Cowboys defeated Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated in 2023 wild card round.
ESPN has been broadcasting NFL games since 1987, and six of the seven most-watched game telecasts have occurred in the last two seasons. The company's Monday Night Football broadcasts also had a record-breaking 2023 season, with the three most-watched MNF games all occurring in November and December 2023.
According to ESPN, the Texans-Ravens game topped the NFL game ratings of all of the Disney-owned network's broadcasts, with the exception of the Super Bowls. This also includes games played on ABC. The company aired Super Bowl XXXIV, Super Bowl XXXVI and Super Bowl XL.
NBC's broadcast of the Miami Dolphins' wild-card round loss to the Kansas City Chiefs exclusively on Peacock drew 23 million viewers, making it the most-streamed game in NFL history. The 2023 AFC Championship Game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Kansas City Chiefs on CBS averaged 53.1 million viewers.
Where is this increase in viewership coming from?
To learn the genesis of ESPN's NFL viewership record last Saturday, go back to 2021, when the NFL announced its new national television deals with its media rights holder partners through the 2033 season.
As part of this deal, in addition to ABC winning two Super Bowls (the first in 2026), ESPN also received a divisional round playoff game in addition to the company's broadcast of a wild card playoff game. Therefore, it was inevitable that ESPN would reach a huge number for this round regardless of the teams. Just like Fox did by airing the Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys (that game made Fox $40 million).
The expansion of out-home viewing metrics is also driving up viewership. Last Saturday's NFL record for ESPN/ABC will of course be broken in the next few years since there is a Super Bowl. As a reminder, this is not ESPN/Disney's most-watched game broadcast of all time. That happened on January 4, 2006, when Texas beat USC in a Rose Bowl classic. This game attracted 35.6 million viewers on ABC. — Richard Deitsch, senior media reporter
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(Photo: Tommy Gilligan / USA Today)