NFL TV Ratings Up and Down in October As Election Draws Near

The impact of the fast-approaching presidential election may finally be making its presence felt in the NFL’s TV ratings.

With less than a week to go until Election Day, viewership results from Week 8 of the NFL regular season show another up-and-down set of performances for the league’s game broadcasts. 

CBS had the most-watched national TV window of the weekend, as an average of 24.89 million people tuned in to the network’s late Sunday afternoon NFL coverage, which included a Jayden Daniels Hail Mary to help the Commanders beat the Bears as time expired, and a seventh consecutive win for the unbeaten Chiefs, who beat the Raiders. 

But while that topped all other NFL game windows in Week 8, viewership was down 4% from the comparable 2023 slot, which was led by a Bengals-49ers game, according to Sports Media Watch. Meanwhile, Monday Night Football was also down 12% year over year, as ESPN dealt with competition from Game 3 of the World Series.

On the positive side, ratings for Sunday Night Football and Thursday Night Football increased compared to last season. NBC had 23.9 million viewers for the 49ers’ 30–24 win over the Cowboys, and Amazon Prime Video drew 12.6 million viewers for the Rams’ 30–20 upset of the Vikings.

Political Matters

Ahead of the season, there was concern the election could take attention away from sports, including the NFL, which sustained an 8% ratings hit in 2016, the last presidential cycle not impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

That was not the case in September, as the NFL season got off to a hot start. TV ratings were still up slightly after five weeks of the season but have been more measured in October. 

Additionally, NFL schedule tweaks like more exclusive streaming-game broadcasts and MNF doubleheaders have made it difficult to accurately compare the league’s TV ratings to prior seasons.