The first week of the 2022 National Football League season began on September 8 with a Thursday night football game between the Buffalo Bills and the defending Super Bowl champions, the Los Angeles Rams.
The games broadcast on Thursday, Sunday and Monday saw strong viewership. Here’s a look at the numbers and the companies behind the big numbers.
What happened: Viewership for the first week of NFL games had increased compared to the first week of 2021, which could bode well for the companies spending billions of dollars on streaming rights.
NFL games in the first week averaged 18.5 million viewers, up 3% from the first week of last season. This was the NFL’s best start to an NFL season since 2016 Front office sports.
More than 121 million people watched NFL games in the first week, a number up 5% from a year ago. Around 83 million people watched NFL games on Sunday.
“As viewership would show, our fans are obviously excited to have the NFL back,” said the NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said.
NBC, owned by Comcast Corporation CMCSAaired the week one Sunday Night Football competition featuring a matchup between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Dallas Cowboys. The game would have more than 21 million viewers according to the company, marking the best Sunday Night Football opener since 2015.
NBC also aired the Thursday night week one football game in which the Buffalo Bills defeated the Los Angeles Rams. The competition was watched by more than 25 million viewers and was the most-streamed NBC-NFL game of all time, excluding Super Bowl LVI. The Sunday Night Football week one saw a 35% increase in viewership compared to the first Sunday Night Football match last year and was the most-watched Sunday Night Football week one since 2015.
CBS, owned by Paramount Global PARAGRAPHPARAAhad two games on Sunday and averaged over 17 million viewers, which was their best first week since 2018.
Fox Corp FOXFOXA also aired two games on Sunday and averaged 15.4…
