Sunday’s NFC East showdown between the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys generated one of the biggest NFL TV audiences of the season.
The Eagles’ last-second 28-23 win over the Cowboys averaged 27,136,000 million viewers. That was up 34% vs. last year’s comparable late Sunday afternoon window.
Fox said the Eagles vs America’s Team was the most-watched NFL telecast of the season. But NBC Sports previously reported its season-opening telecast of the Kansas City Chiefs vs. the Detroit Lions drew a higher number: 27.5 million.
The dueling “most-watched” claims boil down to how Nielsen measures ratings.
Nielsen includes Fox’s streaming numbers. But it does not include NBC’s, measured by Adobe Analytics.
According to sources, Fox may have also included numbers from other games played in the same Sunday afternoon window.
On the other hand, NBC’s telecast of Chiefs vs. Lions was the only NFL game that day.
It’s the second time in recent weeks that Fox and NBC have clashed over which network aired the most-watched NFL game this season.
Fox stood by its claim on Wednesday.
“As stated last time, according to Nielsen, which is the industry standard for viewing metrics, our claim upholds that we are the most-watched game,” spokeswoman Jennifer Inglesino told Front Office Sports.
The dispute is likely to become a moot point within the space of a few NFL weekends.
Fox’s Thanksgiving Day telecast of the Cowboys vs. New York Giants last year drew 42 million viewers. That made it the most-watched regular-season game in league history.
The NFL is once again looking to put a TV stranglehold around Turkey Day, scheduling three regular season games for Thursday, Nov. 23. They are: Detroit Lions vs. Green Bay Packers on Fox (12:30 p.m. ET); Cowboys vs. Washington Commanders on CBS (4:30 p.m. ET); and San Francisco 49ers vs. Seattle Seahawks on NBC (8:20 p.m. ET).
One of those telecasts is almost certainly the most-watched NFL regular season game this season. If history is any guide it will be the Cowboys game.
