The NFL’s new-look broadcast schedule for the 2026 season’s opening week did not yield the aggregate viewership gains the league was pursuing.
Week 1 of the regular season yielded a per-game audience average of 19.5 million viewers. That total is down by 13% from 2025’s opening week and down 9% from 2024, but remains the third-most-watched opening week for the NFL in the last 10 seasons, trailing only the last two years.
The overall figure arrived as the NFL made a series of sizable changes to this year’s Week 1 schedule. Among them:
- A rare Wednesday start for the kickoff game between the Patriots and Seahawks, designed in part to accommodate the 49ers-Rams from Australia the following night. NBC saw an 11% viewership drop for the opener, while Netflix was flat for the Melbourne game.
- A “double-doubleheader” on Sunday afternoon in which Fox and CBS both had games in the 1 p.m. ET and 4:25 p.m. ET windows, contrasting with CBS having the late afternoon window to itself in Week 1 last year. As a result, CBS saw a 22% decline in the late afternoon national game between the Vikings and Packers, but still won the doubleheader overall against Fox.
Despite the initial decline, there were some milestones achieved. NBC Sports saw a 4% gain in its Sunday Night Football game involving the Cowboys and Giants, and the best audience for a Week 1 SNF game since 2015. ESPN, meanwhile, posted the best-ever Week 1 Monday Night Football game in its 20 years with that program, and its third-most-watched MNF game ever.
The NFL remains by far the most-watched programming in all of U.S. television, and even with the most recent declines, the league claimed eight of the top 10 viewership figures for the week.
Week 2, beginning on Thursday, includes Amazon Prime Video’s coverage of the high-profile Lions-Bills clash from the new $2.2 billion Highmark Stadium. Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs, meanwhile, will have another primetime showcase, staying at home for a SNF game against the Colts. ESPN also has another high-profile matchup for MNF, with the Giants heading to Los Angeles to face the Super Bowl LXI favorite Rams.
