The NFL continued to be a ratings juggernaut for networks carrying live games last week, with CBS the latest to enjoy a huge audience for its football telecasts.
CBS's October 22 late-afternoon NFL game window — mostly featuring the Los Angeles Chargers-Kansas City Chiefs game — averaged 24.38 million viewers to lead all live sports events during the week of October 16-22, according to Nielsen numbers published by SportsMedia Watch. The audience was CBS’s biggest for an NFL football regular season game in more than a decade, according to the publication. The network’s early Sunday NFL window was the third most-watched live sports event with 15.68 million viewers.
NBC’s Sunday Night Football telecast featuring the Miami Dolphins-Philadelphia Eagles finished second with 20.61 million viewers.
On the college football field, Fox’s October 21 Ohio State-Penn State game drew nearly 10 million viewers, making it the seventh most-watched regular season college football game in the network’s history and the third most-watched game of the college football season, according to Fox Sports.
Major League Baseball’s Championship Series coverage on TBS, Fox, truTV and FS1 finished among the top five most-watched non-football telecasts last week. TBS’s October 17 Game 2 telecast of the Arizona Diamondbacks-Philadelphia Phillies NLCS series was the most-watched game of the week with 5.12 million viewers.
Other notable performances included ESPN’s October 18 telecast of Game 4 of the WNBA Finals. The game between the Las Vegas Aces and New York Liberty drew 889,000 viewers in becoming the most-watched WNBA Finals Game 4 on record. Overall, the WNBA Finals averaged 728,000 viewers, up 36% from last year and the most-watched Finals in 20 years, according to ESPN.
| Date | Event | Network | Viewership |
| October 22 | NFL on CBS (Late Window) | CBS | 24.37 million |
| October 22 | NBC Sunday Night Football | NBC | 20.61 million |
| October 22 | CBS NFL Football (early window) | CBS | 15.68 million |
| October 22 | NFL on Fox (early window) | Fox | 14.53 million |
| October 16 | Monday Night Football | ABC/ESPN | 10.72 million |
| Date | Event | Network | Viewership |
| October 17 | MLB NLCS: Diamondbacks-Phillies (Game 2) | TBS | 5.12 million |
| October 22 | MLB ALCS: Rangers-Astros (Game 6) | FS1 | 4.76 million |
| October 18 | MLB ALCS: Astros-Rangers (Game 3) | FS1 | 4.64 million |
| October 21 | MLB NLCS: Phillies-Diamondbacks (Game 5) | TBS | 4.61 million |
| October 20 | MLB ALCS: Astros-Rangers (Game 5) | FS1 | 4.22 million |
