CBS Sports, Fox Sports, and NBC Sports will be truly thankful this year, as their NFL Thanksgiving games all set historic viewership ratings records.
The matchup between two juggernaut franchises, the Kansas City Chiefs vs. the Dallas Cowboys on CBS Sports, became the most-watched regular-season game in NFL history, reaching 57.23 million total viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research.
The 4 p.m. ET game was up +47% compared to last year’s game between the New York Giants and the Cowboys, which had 38.839 million total viewers. The new numbers also topped the previous record of 42.059 million, set in a 2022 game featuring the Giants and Cowboys. With this year’s game going down to the wire, peak viewership reached 61.357 million between 7:45 and 8 p.m. ET.
Meanwhile, the first matchup of the day at 1 p.m. ET on Fox, featuring the Green Bay Packers and the Detroit Lions, brought in 47.7 million total viewers. This was Fox’s most-watched regular-season game ever, with a peak total viewership of 57.957 million between 4 and 4:15 p.m. ET. The game was up +27% compared to last year’s matchup between the Chicago Bears vs. the Detroit Lions.
The Cincinnati Bengals triumph over the Baltimore Ravens later that night at 8:20 p.m. ET on NBC was seen by an average of 28.4 million total viewers, making it the most-watched primetime game on record. It was up +7% and topped last year’s matchup between the Miami Dolphins and the Packers.
This year’s games are being measured using Nielsen’s big data +panel measurement system, which combines its traditional household panel with big data from connected devices, including smart TVs and set-top boxes.
