NFL Cools Off But Still Commands Top Slots: The Week in Sports Ratings

The NFL continued to dominate the sports ratings field last week while NBA games secured the top spots among nonfootball telecasts.

CBS’s November 19 late-afternoon NFL window — mostly featuring the New York Jets-Buffalo Bills game — was the most watched live sports event last week with 20.9 million viewers, according to Nielsen ratings published by SportsMedia Watch. The telecast marked the first time this season that the most-watched NFL game failed to top the 21 million-viewer mark, SportsMedia Watch said. 

NBC’s Minnesota Vikings-Denver Broncos Sunday Night Football telecast drew 18.4 million viewers to finish second for the week, followed by Fox’s early November 19 NFL window, which averaged 18 million viewers.

The most watched college-football game of the week failed to break the 6 million viewer mark for only the second time this season as CBS’s November 18 Georgia-Tennessee game drew 5.72 million viewers. 

The upcoming Thanksgiving weekend schedule of games should generate substantially higher ratings for both pro and college football. Already, the November 20 Kansas City Chiefs-Philadelphia Eagles Monday Night Football telecast drew more than 29 million viewers across the family of ESPN networks, the most watched game for the MNF franchise since it moved to ESPN in 2006, according to SportsBusiness Journal.  

Three NBA telecasts finished among the most-watched nonfootball telecasts last week, including ESPN’s November 15 Boston Celtics-Philadelphia 76ers game, which topped all events with 1.84 million viewers.