Viewer data is beginning to show that the NFL lost a step in its TV ratings for the 2024 regular season after seeing a rise in viewership in 2023.
According to the numbers released by Front Office Sports, the NFL ended its regular season broadcasts down 2.2 percent compared to 2023. The league earned an average of 17.5 million viewers per game, down from the 17.9 million from the previous year.
This was even despite the expansion into more viewing options in streaming. Granted, though, the NFL’s 17 million plus viewers are far and away the largest audience of any other type of programming.
However, the number is likely disappointing for the league, considering Sports Illustrated reported a seven percent bump in viewership between 2022 and 2023.
Some of the NFL’s partners still saw growth, though. Amazon, for instance, gained an 11 percent rise in viewers over 2023 and saw an average of 13.2 million viewers. In particular, it earned a 13 percent jump for its Black Friday game.
For its part, Netflix earned 24 million viewers for its very first game broadcast this year, which is a huge number.
Another gainer was NBC’s Sunday Night Football, which apparently ended the season up one percent with an average of 21.6 million sets of eyes. It also saw growth in its numbers on its streaming services, up 38 percent over 2023.
But Fox and ABC both tumbled year-over-year, with Fox averaging 18.4 million, down three percent from 2023, and CBS down one percent, with 19.2 million per game.
Worst of all was ESPN’s tumble. The cable sports network lost 14 percent over the previous season and averaged 15 million per game.
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