Historic NFL Doubleheader Draws Nearly 40M Viewers

The NFL’s unprecedented Week 15 scheduling gambit paid off for the league big-time on the TV ratings front.

With Bills-Lions and Steelers-Eagles going head-to-head on late Sunday afternoon, CBS and Fox combined to draw nearly 40 million viewers in the 4:25 p.m. ET national broadcast window, according to Nielsen ratings.

It was just the second weekend since the 1970 NFL-AFL merger in which two separate games each involved teams with at least 10 wins, by Week 15 of the season or sooner. The NFL had moved one of its double national broadcast windows (when CBS and Fox each get major distribution for their top game) from Week 1, where it’s been the last three seasons, to Week 15 this year. Another one will take place Jan. 5.

CBS averaged 23.3 million viewers, as Buffalo held off Detroit 48–42, according to Sports Media Watch. Fox’s audience was 16.4 million for Philadelphia’s 27–13 victory over in-state rival Pittsburgh—a game that finished about half an hour earlier than Bills-Lions.

Is Two Better Than One?

To conclude Week 15, Monday Night Football had its final doubleheader of the season. Bears-Vikings kicked off on ABC at 8 p.m. ET. Falcons-Raiders began 30 minutes later on ESPN.

While specific game audiences weren’t announced, ESPN said that a nearly three-hour overlap period of the two games drew a combined average of 17.8 million viewers. 
There were a record four MNF doubleheaders this season, one of which included an exclusive stream on ESPN+ that reportedly drew just 1.8 million viewers for a Cardinals-Chargers game.