The NFL media machine keeps on churning.
Through two weeks of the new season, NFL games are averaging 17.5 million viewers across linear television and digital streaming — a 2% increase from 2022 and the highest average through two weeks since 2018.
Additionally, since the start of the 2023 campaign, NFL games account for the top 11 most-watched shows across TV and digital.
This includes the season opener between the Detroit Lions and Kansas City Chiefs (26.9M), and the Week 2 matchup between the New York Jets and Dallas Cowboys (25.9M), which was the most-watched program on any linear TV network since the Super Bowl, per CBS.
The “Monday Night Football” season premiere between the Buffalo Bills and the Jets (22.6M) — which included Aaron Rodgers’ debut and season-ending injury — came in third. Disney is paying $2.7 billion to show 21 NFL primetime games this season, the most in company history.
Football — and live sports in general — will continue to be a key piece to the major media companies’ strategies amidst the ongoing Hollywood actors’ and writers’ strikes.
![[US, Mexico & Canada customers only] April 13, 2025; Sakhir, BAHRAIN; Oscar Piastri leads George Russell into the first corner at the start of the race during the F1 Bahrain Grand Prix at the Bahrain International Circuit.](https://frontofficesports.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/USATSI_25925940_168416386_lowres-scaled.jpg?quality=100&w=1024)
