Ratings Roundup: ESPN Sees Highest WNBA Finals Game 1 Viewership in 28 Years; NFL Viewership Up 8% Compared to Last Year

By SVG Staff
Friday, October 10, 2025 - 12:17 pm
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Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press releases and reports around the industry. In this week’s edition, over 22 million viewers tuned in for the ESPN broadcast of Chiefs vs Jaguars; FOX Sports sees 14% viewership increase for this years ALDS coverage; and more.

NFL Viewership Reaches Highest Level Since 2010, Up 8% from 2024

Through Week 5, the NFL is averaging a viewership of 18.58 million. That is up 8% from the comparable average last year and 9% from 2023. It also represents the second highest mark at this point in the season in league history behind only 2010, according to Front Office Sports.

Sunday’s PBR Teams on CBS Game of the Week Was Most-Watched PBR Telecast Ever

Professional Bull Riders’s PBR Teams event on CBS notched the most-watched audience in the history of PBR’s run on the network, averaging 2.71 million viewers. That was more viewers than Game 2 of the New York Yankees-Toronto Blue Jays ALDS game on FS1 (2.18 million viewers) that same day, as well as more than Game 1 of the Chicago Cubs-Milwaukee Brewers NLDS Saturday afternoon on TBS (2.17 million viewers), a Colorado-TCU game Saturday night on Fox (2.17 million viewers), and a Boise State-Notre Dame game Saturday afternoon on NBC (2.02 million viewers). PBR had the benefit of leading directly out of CBS’s NFL singleheader window earlier on Sunday.

3,177,000 Viewers Tuned In on Average Through Game 3 of the ALDS Across FOX, FS1 and FS2

Up +14% from last year’s ALDS through Game 3 (2,796,000 viewers for 6 games)
Up +28% over the ALDS through Game 3 in 2023 (2,481,000 viewers for 6 games)

TOR-NYY GAME 3

5,189,000 viewers on FS1, FOX Deportes and FOX Sports streaming services
With 4,964,000 viewers on FS1, the most-watched LDS game on cable since Atlanta-Philadelphia Game 4 in 2023

SEA-DET GAME 3

2,497,000 viewers on FS1 (6:55-7:59 PM ET due to rain delay)
1,623,000 viewers on FS2, MLB Network and FOX Sports streaming services

ESPN’s NHL Opening Night Up 37% Year-Over-Year

The 2025-26 NHL season on ESPN opened with a tripleheader, up 37% year-over-year (768K viewers). Chicago Blackhawks-Florida Panthers averaged 743K viewers, up 114% vs. 2024 opening night early window (St. Louis-Seattle). The Pittsburgh Penguins-New York Rangers matchup delivered an impressive 1.09M viewers, up 38% vs. 2024 primetime window (Boston-Florida). Penguins-Rangers also delivered ESPN’s second-best opening night game on cable behind the Blackhawks-Penguins in 2023.

ESPN Daytime Studio Shows Surge in September

ESPN’s daily studio show lineup delivered audience increases across the board in September, as the fall sports season began in earnest. Multiple shows – Get Up, First Take and The Pat McAfee Show – earned their highest September viewership ever, while others, including SportsCenter, delivered multi-year highs for September.

“This year’s compelling fall sports season, combined with Nielsen’s Big Data + Panel methodology, has further amplified our studio show viewership,” says Flora Kelly, ESPN Senior Vice President of Research. “We are thrilled with these September results, proving that fans continue to turn to ESPN for their sports conversations.”

Between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. ET, ESPN collectively averaged 445,000 viewers, up 22 percent year-over-year. Among the individual show highlights:

Get Up: 459,000 viewers, the show’s best September audience and up 24 percent year-over-year.
First Take: 551,000 viewers, the show’s best September audience and up 23 percent year-over-year.
The Pat McAfee Show: 447,000 viewers (Includes YouTube viewership in addition to ESPN), the show’s best September audience.
NFL Live: 447,000 viewers the show’s best September audience since 2016 and up 18 percent year-over-year.
SportsCenter (5 p.m.): 448,000 viewers, up 16 percent year-over-year.
Pardon The Interruption: 676,000 viewers, up 16 percent year-over-year.
SportsCenter (6 p.m.): 542,000, the show’s best September since 2019 and up 39 percent year-over-year.

ESPN Generates 22.3 Million Viewers for Chiefs-Jaguars, Continues Season-Trend of Delivering Its Most-Watched Games in Monday Night Football Era

ESPN’s Week 5 matchup between the Chiefs and Jaguars (October 6, 8:15 p.m. ET) generated an audience of 22.3 million, continuing ESPN’s season-long trend of airing its most-watched Monday Night Football games since the franchise moved to the network in 2006 (more than 340 games). Now, five weeks into the season, ESPN has aired 3 of its Top 8 most-watched telecasts in that time period.

Across the entire NFL, Monday Night Football was the most-watched game in Week 5.

The Chiefs-Jaguars game ranks as ESPN’s sixth most-watched Monday Night Football game, joining Lions-Ravens in Week 3 (22,847,000 viewers) and Vikings-Bears in Week 1 (22,120,000 viewers) on the Top 8 list. Lions-Ravens remains fourth on the list, with Vikings-Bears now eighth.

Collectively, those three stand-alone Monday Night Football games have averaged 22.4 million viewers. Factoring in all seven Monday Night Football games this season (including two games in Weeks 2 and 4), ESPN is averaging 16.7 million viewers this season, up 29% from the same point and number of games during the 2024 season.

In addition to being one of ESPN’s most-watched Monday Night Football games, the Chiefs-Jaguars also serves as ESPN’s most-watched Week 5 game in its MNF era, and was up 40% compared to Week 5 last season (Saints vs. Chiefs). ESPN’s audience peaked at 25.4 million viewers during the Jaguars’ game-winning drive (11:00 – 11:15 p.m.).

NFL ON CBS Scores Record-Setting Week 5 Viewership Across Platforms

Led by Broncos-Eagles, CBS Sports scored its best Week 5 singleheader since the NFL returned to CBS in 1998 with 19.577 million viewers up +17% vs. last year’s comparable window
Sunday’s coverage is the most-watched “NFL on CBS” singleheader in any week since 2013
Paramount+ recorded its most-streamed Week 5 singleheader ever

Vikings-Browns is Most-Watched NFL Network London Game Ever

Sunday’s game at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London featuring the Minnesota Vikings’ 21-17 win over the Cleveland Browns averaged 6.4 million viewers (TV+Digital) – ranking as the most-watched NFL Network London game on record.

The 6.4 million viewers for Vikings-Browns also ranks as the third most-watched NFL Network International Game on record, is up +21% versus last year’s Week 5 London game between the New York Jets and Vikings, and is up +35% versus NFL Network’s 2024 International Games average. Additionally, Vikings-Browns peaked with an average of approximately nine million viewers at the end of the game.

The 2025 International Games continue with the Denver Broncos versus the New York Jets on Sunday, Oct. 12 at 9:30 a.m. ET at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, exclusively on NFL Network and available to stream across devices with NFL+.

FOX Sports’ ALDS Coverage Up 14% Year-Over-Year Across FOX and FS1

3,187,000 viewers tuned in on average for the first four games of the 2025 American League Division Series across FOX and FS1
- Up 14% from last year’s ALDS through Game 2 (2,791,000 average viewers for four games)
- Up 57% from 2023 ALDS through Game 2 (2,026,000 average viewers for four games)
NYY vs. TOR
- Game 1 on FOX: 4,025,000 average viewers
- Game 2 on FS1: 2,177,000 average viewers
DET vs. SEA
- Game 1 on FS1: 3,057,000 average viewers
- Game 2 on FS1: 3,529,000 average viewers

AMERICA’S GAME OF THE WEEK on FOX Roars in Week 5 as Most-Watched Telecast of the Week on Any Network

20,333,000 Average Viewers Watched AMERICA’S GAME OF THE WEEK (AGOTW) on FOX in Week 5

Ranks as the most-watched telecast of the week on any network
FOX Sports’ AGOTW currently reigns as the #1 program in all of television
Season-to-date, AGOTW is averaging 26,345,000 viewers; up +3% over last year’s season-to-date average (25,656,000)

ESPN Scores Most-Watched Game 1 of The WNBA Finals In 28 Years

Phoenix Mercury vs Las Vegas Aces Game 1, Friday October 3, 2025:

1.9M viewers
Up 62% YoY
Peak: 2.5M

WNBA Countdown:

626K average viewers
Up 78% YoY

’25 WNBA Playoffs averaging 1.2M up 16% YoY

College GameDay Built by The Home Depot Delivers Second Most-Watched Regular Season Episode Ever; ESPN & ABC Score Three of Week 6’s Top Four Games

2.8M viewers from 9a – noon ET
- Up 45% over ’24 Wk6
3.5m viewers final hour+
- Beating the competition by 177%
Full show peak 3.9M viewers
- Season-to-date, pacing +32% from ’24
- Largest viewership gains amongst women (+45%) & P18-24 (+64%) demos
ABC off to best start ever (6.9M avg. viewers) through 6 weeks
ESPN networks deliver best 6-week start since 2009, up 9% over 2024
- Vanderbilt vs. Alabama
  - 6.4M viewers on ABC
  - Peak: 7.4M viewers
  - Week 6’s most-watched game
- Miami vs FSU
  - 6M viewers on ABC
  - Peak: 7.3M viewers
  - Week 6’s most-watched primetime game
- UT Austin vs UF
  - 4M viewers on ESPN
  - Peak: 6M viewers
  - Second-best late afternoon game of Week 6 behind VU/ALA
- ABC Tops CFB
  - Saturday Night Football: 8.5M
    - ABC SNF: #1 window in CFB
  - SEC on ABC: 7.9M
    - ABC 3:30p ET: #2 window in CFB

College Football on FOX Scores Big in Week Six

4,627,000 viewers watched Michigan beat Wisconsin 24-10 on FOX’s Big Noon Saturday Game of the Week
- Most-watched noon game on any network
- Up +68% over last year’s Week 6 BNS matchup
Michigan State – Nebraska on FS1: 1,500,000 viewers
- Most-watched game on FS1 since 2022
- Up +171% over 2024’s Saturday Big Ten average on FS1

49ers-Rams on Prime Up +20% YoY; TNF Nightcap Continues to Soar

Prime Video’s fourth season of exclusive TNF coverage continued its record pace on Thursday, with a 49ers-Rams thriller that delivered 14.79 million viewers and an impressive +20% increase over last year’s comparable game. Viewership peaked with 17.01M viewers from 11:00 to 11:14 PM ET as fans watched the 49ers stifle the Rams in OT and take control of the NFC West. The dramatic contest on Prime nearly doubled the viewership of the evening’s second most-watched event, a Red Sox vs. Yankees finale in The Bronx.

TNF Nightcap, TNF on Prime’s critically acclaimed postgame show, continues its rise among the most-watched shoulder programs in sports.Nightcap averaged 2.84M viewers on Thursday and is now flying +40% higher than last year’s full-season average.

Below, please find additional viewership highlights from 49ers-Rams, and the first quarter of the 2025 TNF campaign. Please note that all the below figures are from Nielsen’s Big Data + Panel measurement. Per Nielsen policy, 2025 Big Data + Panel figures are to be compared with Panel Only measurement figures from previous years.

49ers-Rams averaged 14.79M viewers, up +20% from last season’s comparable game (12.30M, Bucs-Falcons, 10/3/2024).
- Thursday’s matchup also was up +20% over last season’s TNF on Prime presentation of Rams-49ers (12.29M, 12/12/2024).
- Thursday’s game attracted a peak audience of 17.01 million viewers between 11:00 and 11:14 PM ET, the latest recorded peak audience ever for TNF on Prime.
49ers-Rams also registered impressive marks across every major demographic:
- Within the P18-34 demo, TNF averaged 2.88M viewers on Thursday, and is now averaging 3.24M in the demo, which is highest among all NFL full-season packages.
- Within the P18-49 demo, TNF averaged 6.97M viewers, up +15% vs. last year’s comparable game (6.07M).
- Within the P25-54 demo, TNF averaged 7.54M viewers, up +16% vs. last year’s comparable game (6.52M).
- Within the P55+ demo, TNF averaged 5.33M viewers, up +22% vs. last year’s comparable game (4.38M).
With a quarter of the season in the books, TNF on Prime is averaging 15.72M viewers, continuing its best start ever and the best for TNF on any network in a decade.
- The four-week average is up +11% vs. last year’s season-to-date average (14.17M), +19% over the 2024 full-season average (13.20M), +33% over the 2023 full-season average (11.86M), and +64% over the 2022 full-season average (9.58M).

Season-to-date, TNF on Prime’s median age is 47.5, which is nearly eight years younger than audiences watching the NFL on linear networks (55.3).
TNF on Prime’s postgame show, TNF Nightcap, averaged 2.84M viewers on Thursday, and is now averaging 2.87M viewers, an increase of +41% over last year’s full-season average (2.04M), and +55% over the 2023 full-season average (1.85M).
TNF Tonight, TNF on Prime’s pregame show that kicks off each week at 7:00PM ET, is averaging 1.79M viewers, an increase of +17% over last year’s full-season average (1.53M), and +29% over the 2023 full-season average (1.39M).

ESPN Sets Multiple MLB Wild Card Series Viewership Records

ESPN’s exclusive coverage of the 2025 Major League Baseball Wild Card Series set multiple viewership records according to Nielsen’s Big Data + Panel. ESPN networks averaged 4,625,000 viewers across 11 games, making it the most-watched Wild Card Series ever under the current format. The series was up 64 percent from last year.

Game 3 of the Boston Red Sox vs. New York Yankees series averaged 7,439,000 viewers, making it the most-watched game of the Wild Card Series under the current format. It was the largest audience for an ESPN MLB game since 2021 when the Red Sox and Yankees squared off in a one-game MLB Wild Card Game under the prior format. Game 3 of the Red Sox vs. Yankees series peaked with 8,375,000 viewers in the 8 p.m. ET quarter hour on Thursday, October 2.

ESPN’s coverage of the Wild Card Series also generated significant audience increases in youth demos. Among viewers under 35 years old, Wild Card viewership was up 89 percent year over year. Additionally, this year’s event drew a 108 percent viewership increase among kids 17 and under.