{"id":74691,"date":"2025-12-03T19:02:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T19:02:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/74691\/"},"modified":"2025-12-03T19:02:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T19:02:08","slug":"cowboys-chiefs-was-most-watched-regular-season-nfl-game-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/74691\/","title":{"rendered":"Cowboys-Chiefs was most-watched regular-season NFL game ever"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Cowboys-Chiefs game<\/a> on Thanksgiving \u2014which was hailed as a \u201cdream scenario\u201d for the NFL and CBS \u2014 attracted an average of 57.2 million viewers, by far the largest audience ever to watch a regular-season NFL game.<\/p>\n

The viewing audience easily eclipsed the previous record of 42.1 million who watched the 2022 Thanksgiving game between the Cowboys<\/a> and Giants.<\/p>\n

The audience for this year\u2019s game peaked with 61.357 viewers, according to CBS.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s Thanksgiving matchup, which the Cowboys won, 31-28, was widely expected to be ratings gold because it had all the trappings of a must-see affair.<\/p>\n

Business Briefing<\/p>\n

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On one side of AT&T Stadium was America\u2019s Team, while on the other side were the Chiefs, who have become AFC\u2019s version of America\u2019s team during the Patrick Mahomes\u2019 era. It is also partially the era of Taylor Swift, whose relationship with tight end Travis Kelce has enabled the franchise to transcend the traditional sports audience.<\/p>\n

It helped that the game, close to an elimination game for both teams, was decided in the final minutes, with the Cowboys breathing life into once far-fetched playoff hopes.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, there was another element that was expected to bolster viewership figures: Nielsen\u2019s new Big Data + Panel methodology better accounts for out-of-home and streaming viewers.<\/p>\n

\"Broadcaster,<\/p>\n

Broadcaster, and former Dallas Cowboys quarterback, Tony Romo waves to the crowd from the broadcast booth during the second half of an NFL football game between the Cowboys and the Kansas City Chiefs at AT&T Stadium on Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025, in Arlington.<\/p>\n

Smiley N. Pool \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

Even though Swift was not in attendance, there was also the considerable entertainment factor, which included the anticipated halftime show<\/a> by Grapevine-raised Post Malone. His set, nearly 8 minutes, included singles \u201cWrong Ones\u201d and \u201cI Had Some Help\u201d off that project and a bluesy rendition of older hit \u201cWow.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPost can do no wrong around here. I\u2019m really not exaggerating,\u201d Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said after the game. \u201cPost was a good show. He\u2019s great. The main thing is our relationship with Post Malone is fitting.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was little doubt the game would break the NFL regular-season viewership mark. The more interesting question was whether it would top 50 million viewers.<\/p>\n

John Kosner, who led digital media at ESPN from 2003-2017 and is president of media consulting firm Kosner Media, believed it would, telling The Dallas Morning News beforehand:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Chiefs at Cowboys, in a must-win situation for both teams, playing late afternoon\/early evening eastern time on Thanksgiving is a dream scenario for the NFL and CBS. \u201cI see it getting to 50 million viewers \u2014 or within margin of error \u2014 and becoming the most-watched NFL regular-season game ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Chief<\/a>Choctaw becomes Official Dallas World Cup 2026 Host City Supporter<\/a><\/p>\n

World Cup Organizing Committee hails partnership as \u2018big win\u2019 because of Choctaw\u2019s long-standing investment in D-FW sports.<\/p>\n

\"Dallas<\/a>Dallas Wings\u2019 Paige Bueckers named to Forbes\u2019 30 under 30 list for 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

The business magazine highlighted Bueckers after a standout year on and off the court.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Cowboys-Chiefs game on Thanksgiving \u2014which was hailed as a \u201cdream scenario\u201d for the NFL and CBS \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":74692,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[910,102,113,104,103,19078,2256],"class_list":["post-74691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-business","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-cowboys","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news","tag-nfl-dallas-cowboys","tag-sports-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74691\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}