\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFind out more <\/a><\/p>\nThis included all nationally telecast games except for the YouTube-exclusive season opener in Brazil between the Los Angeles Chargers and the Kansas City Chiefs, which supposedly used flawed methodology in its measurements, and as such was discounted.<\/p>\n
That 18.7 million figure is up 10% year-on-year on the figure from the 2024-25 campaign, and 7% on the\u00a0year prior.<\/p>\n
Crucially, it also makes the 2025-26 regular season the most-watched since 1989, when the record average of 19 million was set.<\/p>\n
Each of the league\u2019s five broadcast packages grew in viewership across the campaign.<\/p>\n
NBC,\u00a0Fox,\u00a0CBS,\u00a0ESPN\/ABC, and Amazon hold domestic NFL rights in a deal that began at the start of the 2023 season and runs through 2033 \u2013 the combined deals are reportedly valued at $111\u00a0billion in total worth.<\/p>\n
CNBC recently reported that the NFL could begin renegotiating its media rights deals as soon as 2026, four years ahead of the current agreement’s opt-out clause.<\/p>\n
The viewership surge\u00a0was led by Amazon\u2019s Prime Video over-the-top service, which experienced its fourth-straight season of audience growth for its weekly Thursday Night Football, averaging 15.3 million (up 16%), the highest for any season of Thursday Night Football since the Thursday broadcast window was established in 2006, even including a season when the window was on linear TV, illustrating the growth and normalization of OTT viewership.<\/p>\n
While its coverage grew more than any other, the mantle of most-watched NFL coverage network went to NBC, which averaged 23.5 million viewers (up 9%) for each Sunday Night Football window from a combination of its linear networks and the Peacock streaming service, which was also the highest number since it returned to the NFL broadcast landscape in 2006.<\/p>\n
Close behind was Paramount-owned CBS, which drew 21.25 million per gameweek (up 11%) across its windows, including 25.83 million in each late Sunday doubleheader window, which was the highest of any individual broadcast window through the season.<\/p>\n
Fox, which shares that Sunday late doubleheader slot (CBS and Fox alternate singleheader and doubleheader weeks to conform to NFL rules) averaged 25.28 million in the lucrative broadcast slot, meanwhile, up 9%, but across all broadcast windows averaged a lower 19.6 million, which was still also up 9% on 2024-25.<\/p>\n
Disney-owned ESPN and ABC, which do not broadcast Sunday games, drew a combined 16.5 million (up 10%) across the season, including 15.8 million across their exclusive Monday Night Football slate.<\/p>\n
This continued strong performance showcases the NFL\u2019s stranglehold on US TV audiences, and similarly demonstrates how important streaming has become, with the likes of Peacock, Disney\u2019s Disney+, Paramount\u2019s Paramount+, Netflix, and Prime Video all notching strong gains as well.<\/p>\n
Looking forward, NBC will broadcast the upcoming 2026 Super Bowl, taking place in early February after the NFL’s post-season playoffs,\u00a0which will doubtless\u00a0be the most-watched game of the season, and potentially the most-watched telecast\u00a0of 2026 in the US.<\/p>\n
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