NFL Dominates TV Viewership: Here’s How They Compare to MLB, NHL, NBA, US Open and Other Sports

Dan Rayburn | Tuesday June 18, 2024 | 12:52 PM | Comments (0)

Nothing even comes close to the viewership of NFL games. Below is a list of recent sports viewership numbers from the NHL, MLB, WNBA, NBA, Formula 1, U.S. Open, Indy 500, UFL and Premier League.

For comparison, for the 2022-23 NFL season, Monday Night Football on ESPN averaged ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ•.๐Ÿ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ฏ๐ข๐ž๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ; Thursday Night Football on Prime Video averaged ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ.๐Ÿ– ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ฏ๐ข๐ž๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ; Sunday Night Football on NBC averaged ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ.๐Ÿ’ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ฏ๐ข๐ž๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ; FOX averaged ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ— ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ฏ๐ข๐ž๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ; CBS averaged ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ—.๐Ÿ‘ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ฏ๐ข๐ž๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ. Even the 2022 FIFA World Cup didnโ€™t come close to the NFL.

๐Ÿ€ ABCโ€™s Game 5 coverage of the NBA Championship final averaged 12.2 million viewers and peaked with 13.2 million viewers. The average audience for ๐๐๐€ ๐…๐ข๐ง๐š๐ฅ๐ฌ Game 3 on ABC and ESPN averaged ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ.๐Ÿ’ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ฏ๐ข๐ž๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ, peaking at 13.9 million viewers.

๐ŸŽ๏ธ The 108th ๐ˆ๐ง๐๐ข๐š๐ง๐š๐ฉ๐จ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฌ ๐Ÿ“๐ŸŽ๐ŸŽ averaged a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of ๐Ÿ“.๐Ÿ‘ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ฏ๐ข๐ž๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ across NBC, Peacock, and NBC Sports digital platforms and peaked at 6.46 million viewers.

๐Ÿ’ The 2024 ๐๐‡๐‹ ๐„๐š๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ง ๐‚๐จ๐ง๐Ÿ๐ž๐ซ๐ž๐ง๐œ๐ž ๐…๐ข๐ง๐š๐ฅ (Game 6) on ESPN averaged ๐Ÿ‘ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ฏ๐ข๐ž๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ peaking at 3.7 million. The series averaged 2.3 million viewers; through 41 Stanley Cup Playoff games, viewership averaged 1.4 million.

โ›ณ The second round broadcast of the ๐”.๐’. ๐Ž๐ฉ๐ž๐ง on NBC and Peacock produced a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of ๐Ÿ.๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿ– ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ฏ๐ข๐ž๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ and peaked with nearly 3 million viewers.

โšฝ The UEFA European Championship Group Stage match on June 16 on FOX peaked at 2.2 million viewers.

โšพ ESPN’s Sunday Night ๐๐š๐ฌ๐ž๐›๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ coverage of the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees on June 16 averaged ๐Ÿ.๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ• ๐ฏ๐ข๐ž๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ.

๐ŸŽ๏ธ๐…๐จ๐ซ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐š ๐Ÿ ๐‚๐š๐ง๐š๐๐ข๐š๐ง ๐†๐ซ๐š๐ง๐ ๐๐ซ๐ข๐ฑ on ABC had the largest live television audience on record, with an average of ๐Ÿ.๐Ÿ– ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ฏ๐ข๐ž๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ and a peak of 1.97 million viewers. The Miami Grand Prix in early May set the all-time F1 record for a live telecast with 3.1 million average viewers.

๐Ÿ€The ๐–๐๐๐€ game of the Indiana Fever versus the Chicago Sky averaged ๐Ÿ.๐Ÿ“๐Ÿ‘ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ฏ๐ข๐ž๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ on ESPN, with viewership peaking at 2.19 million.

๐ŸฅŽ The NCAA Division I ๐’๐จ๐Ÿ๐ญ๐›๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐–๐จ๐ฆ๐ž๐งโ€™๐ฌ ๐‚๐จ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ž๐ ๐ž ๐–๐จ๐ซ๐ฅ๐ ๐’๐ž๐ซ๐ข๐ž๐ฌ Finals on ESPN drew ๐Ÿ.๐Ÿ— ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ฏ๐ข๐ž๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ and peaked at 2.5 million, making it the most-watched Game 1 on record.

โšฝ The UEFA European Championship Group Stage match on June 16 on FOX peaked at 2.2 million viewers

๐Ÿ€ Over Memorial Day Weekend, ION, CBS and NBA TV set viewership records for ๐–๐๐๐€ broadcasts, with ๐Ÿ•๐Ÿ๐Ÿ’,๐ŸŽ๐ŸŽ๐ŸŽ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ž๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ, peaking at 981,000.

๐ŸŽพ The final round of the U.S. Womenโ€™s Open on NBC had 943,000 viewers.

๐Ÿ€ CBS carried a ๐–๐๐๐€ game between the NY Liberty and the Minnesota Lynx, which drew ๐Ÿ•๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ’,๐ŸŽ๐ŸŽ๐ŸŽ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ž๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ, the highest viewership for a WNBA game on CBS.

๐Ÿˆ The ๐”๐…๐‹ game between the D.C. Defenders and the San Antonio Brahmas on FOX averaged ๐Ÿ”๐Ÿ–๐Ÿ’,๐ŸŽ๐ŸŽ๐ŸŽ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ž๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ, peaking at 1.3 million viewers.

โšฝ For the ๐๐ซ๐ž๐ฆ๐ข๐ž๐ซ ๐‹๐ž๐š๐ ๐ฎ๐ž 2023-24 season, Peacock averaged a Total Audience Delivery of ๐Ÿ“๐Ÿ’๐Ÿ”,๐ŸŽ๐ŸŽ๐ŸŽ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ž๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ per TV match. The Championship averaged a Total Audience Delivery of 2.9 million viewers across all TV and streaming platforms in English and Spanish.

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