(Stock image via Pixabay, Graphic by The Desk)
(Stock image via Pixabay, Graphic by The Desk)
Key Points:
NBC’s Eagles-Cowboys opener averaged 28.3 million viewers, the second-largest NFL Kickoff audience ever, just behind last year’s Ravens-Chiefs game.
An hour-long weather delay cut viewership from a 34.3 million peak to 20.2 million, dragging down the broadcast’s overall average.
The game marked the first NFL telecast measured with Nielsen’s new Big Data + Panel system, aimed at improving audience accuracy.
NBC Sports’ season-opening broadcast of “Sunday Night Football” on September 4 drew one of the largest audiences in league history, though a lengthy weather delay prevented the telecast from breaking a record.
The Philadelphia Eagles’ 24–20 win over the Dallas Cowboys averaged 28.3 million viewers across NBC, Peacock and other digital platforms, according to Nielse and Adobe Analytics data released by the network.
The game was the second most-watched NFL Kickoff event in domestic TV history, trailing last year’s Ravens-Chiefs opener that attracted 29.2 million viewers.
Viewership momentum was on pace to set a new high before severe weather struck Philadelphia in the third quarter, forcing an hour-long suspension of the game. Prior to the delay, the game was averaging 31.6 million viewers, well above last season’s record. When play resumed at 11:24 p.m. Eastern Time, the audience dropped to 20.2 million, with the final minutes concluding after midnight.
The decline had an outsized impact on the overall average. Nielsen ultimately measured the full game, including the delay period, though the agency had briefly indicated that the interruption might be excluded from reporting. Peak viewership reached 34.3 million during the second quarter, meaning the post-delay audience was just 59 percent of that high point.
Despite the weather-related dip, the Eagles-Cowboys opener reaffirmed the NFL’s dominance in prime-time television. The 28.3 million average eclipsed nearly every other broadcast in the past year and reinforced NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” as one of the most-watched programs in American media.
Weather has disrupted NFL broadcasts before. Last October, a “Sunday Night Football” matchup between the Cowboys and Pittsburgh Steelers was delayed nearly 90 minutes by storms. That game averaged 20.3 million viewers, the lowest for the franchise to that point in the season and down 23 percent from the comparable Week 5 broadcast in 2023.
This season’s opener also carried added significance as the first NFL telecast measured under Nielsen’s new Big Data + Panel methodology. The process supplements traditional sampling with viewing information from set-top boxes and smart TVs, which the measurement company says will improve accuracy.
The methodology was not applied to YouTube’s exclusive global broadcast of the Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers game from Brazil on September 5, which attracted 17 million global viewers. That omission drew criticism from executive at Fox Sports and ESPN, who argued that measurement inconsistencies skew public perception of audience performance across platforms. Fox Sports and ESPN share NFL rights with other broadcasters, including NBC Sports, CBS Sports and Amazon’s Prime Video.
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