Ratings Roundup: MNF Eagles-Chargers Hits Over 20 Million Viewers on ESPN; 18M+ Viewers Tune Into Big Ten Championship on FOX
Story Highlights
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, 2026 FIFA World Cup Draw sets record setting viewership on Telemundo; ABC/ESPN secures record for second most watched conference Championship since 2014; and more.
Monday Night Football’s Eagles-Chargers Matchup Draws 20.4 Million Viewers, MNF’s Highest Week 14 Audience in ESPN Era
ESPN’s Monday Night Football overtime thriller between the Eagles and Chargers (December 8, 8:15 p.m. ET) generated 20.4 million viewers, ESPN’s highest MNF Week 14 audience on record (2006-present). The viewership for the Chargers’ victory was up 9% year-over-year (Bengals-Cowboys in 2024). The game aired across ESPN, ABC, ESPN Deportes and the ESPN App with the Monsters Funday Football alternate-presentation available across ESPN2, Disney Channel, Disney XD, Disney+ and NFL+.
Season-to-date, Monday Night Football is averaging 15.8 million viewers (through Week 14 & 18 games). This viewership mark is on pace for ESPN’s second-best MNF season in 20 years (2006 – present).
Hawks Telecasts on FanDuel Sports Network See Total Audience Growth
FanDuel Sports Network has experienced a 19% growth in its total audience delivery through the first 23 Atlanta Hawks telecasts of the 2025-26 season.
Total Audience Delivery is an all-encompassing viewership metric that combines the full footprint viewership across the network’s multiple television and streaming platforms. So far this season, Hawks telecasts are delivering on average over 47,000 viewers.
“We’re thrilled to see Hawks viewership on the rise this season—it’s a clear reflection of the team’s performance and the success of our multi-platform approach,” says Damon Phillips, Executive Vice President of Team Partnerships at FanDuel Sports Network. “Fans have more ways than ever to experience Hawks basketball, and right now we’re offering a 30-day free trial on the FanDuel Sports Network app so they can see what they’ve been missing.”
The total audience growth is largely due to the rising success of the network’s FanDuel Sports Network app with viewers streaming through direct-to-consumer subscriptions, Amazon Prime Video or by logging in with pay-TV provider login credentials.
Streaming viewership has seen triple-digit growth with the total number of unique streamers up 142% and unique streamers per game up 111% over last season’s first two months. Additionally, viewers have streamed 10.8 million minutes, a jump of 94% year-over-year.
TV viewership in the Atlanta DMA has also increased this season, rising 15% year-over-year.
Telemundo Scores Record-Setting Multiplatform Audience for 2026 FIFA World Cup Draw
- Historic Total Audience Delivery: The 2026 FIFA World Cup Draw averaged a TAD of 693,000 total viewers, marking the most-watched FIFA Draw in Telemundo history and delivering growth of +48% vs. 2022 and +154% vs. 2018. Digital platforms contributed 45,000 viewers (6%), a substantial increase from 2022.
- #1 Network on Spanish-Language TV: Across the full 10 a.m.–3 p.m. coverage window, Telemundo ranked #1 on Spanish-language television, averaging 541,000 total viewers. The Draw itself delivered 648,000 total viewers, and Telemundo’s coverage reached 2.9 million total viewers throughout the day.
- Strong Digital Performance Across Platforms: World Cup Draw content generated 344,000 unique visitors, 582,000 views, and 8 million minutes watched across digital and social platforms — including the preshow, watch party, main draw, and post-show — with Peacock serving as the primary driver of digital consumption. This underscores Telemundo’s expanding multi-platform reach heading into FIFA World Cup 26.
ESPN Finishes Final Formula 1 Season with All-time Viewership Record
Bringing one of sports television’s biggest success stories to a close, ESPN ended its final year of televising the Formula 1 World Championship with the all-time single-season viewership record for the championship on U.S. television.
The average race audience of 1.3 million viewers across ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC for the 24-race season was the highest live telecast average in the championship’s history, breaking the record of 1.21 million that was set on ESPN Networks in 2022.
The season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Sunday, Dec. 7, averaged 1.5 million viewers on ESPN, peaking at 1.8 million, based on Nielsen Big Data + Panel data, making it the 16th of 24 races this season to set an event viewership record. All but three of the 24 races had year-over-year viewership growth.
The 16 F1 races with event viewership records set in 2025 included Australia, China, Monaco, Spain, Canada, Austria, Great Britain, Belgium, The Netherlands, Italy, Azerbaijan, USGP, Mexico, Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi. Miami, Singapore and Brazil were the three races that did not have year-over-year viewership increases.
Over the past eight seasons since F1 returned to ESPN Networks in 2018, viewership increased from an average of 554,000 viewers per race in 2018 to 1.3 million in 2025, an increase of 135 percent. In its final year on NBC, F1 races averaged 538,000 viewers in 2017, with the 2025 season average marking an increase of 142 percent over NBC’s final season.
Average viewership for each season of ESPN’s eight years of Formula 1 coverage:
- 2018 – 554,000
- 2019 – 672,000
- 2020 – 608,000
- 2021 – 948,000
- 2022 – 1.21 M
- 2023 – 1.1 M
- 2024 – 1.1 M
- 2025 – 1.3 M
FOX NFL Scores Massive Week 14 Viewership
28 million viewers watched FOX Sports’ Week 14 AMERICA’S GAME OF THE WEEK, featuring the Green Bay Packers divisional win over the Chicago Bears
- Most-watched telecast of the week on any network
- Up +17% over last year’s week 14 delivery (24M viewers)
- Season-to-date, America’s Game of the Week is averaging 26,212,000 viewers, up +4% over last year’s average (25,156,000 viewers)
16.2 million viewers averaged for FOX Sports’ Week 14 regional window (1:00 PM ET) highlighted by a nail-biting Buffalo Bills victory over the Cincinnati Bengals
- Up +40% over last year’s Week 14 delivery (11,592,000 viewers)
- Season-to-date, the NFL on FOX is averaging 20,546,000 viewers, up +7% over last year’s average (19,143,00 viewers) and FOX’s best season-to-date performance for the NFL since 2015 (20,600,000 viewers)
College GameDay Delivers Second Most-Watched Conference Championship Episode Ever; ABC/ESPN Score Second Most-Watched Conference Championship Week Since 2014
Most-watched regular season in College GameDay History
- Week 15: SEC Champ
- 2.3M viewers
- Second-most watched conference champ show ever
- Up 12% over ’24 Wk 15 SEC Championship
- 2025 Season
- Average 2.7M viewers across all shows
- CGD delivered its nine most-watched shows ever in ’25
- Largest viewership gains among women (+34%) and P2-17 (+39%)
ABC/ESPN score second best champ weekend since 2014
- ABC averages 7.7M viewers across four championship games, also second best since 2014 American, Big 12, SEC and Sun Belt all experience year-over-year growth
- SEC Championship 2025
- 16.9M viewers on ABC
- Peak: 17.9M viewers
- Fourth best SEC football championship on record
- Third most-watched game of 2025
- Field Pass presented by The Pat McAfee Show registered 1.1M viewers
- Big 12 Championship 2025
- 9M viewers on ABC
- Peak: 11.4M viewers
- Most-watched Big 12 Championship since 2022
- Up 30% year-over-year
- ACC Championship 2025
- 3.9M viewers on ABC
- Peak: 6.4M viewers
- American Conference Championship 2025
- 2.4M viewers on ABC
- Peak: 2.9M viewers
- Most-watched American Conference since 2022
- Up 21% year-over-year
- Sun Belt Conference Championship 2025
- 1.1M viewers on ESPN
- Peak: 1.3M viewers
- Best Sun Belt Football Championship on record
- SEC Championship 2025
18.3M Viewers Tuned in for Big Ten Championship Game on FOX
- Indiana-Ohio State on FOX
- Most-watched Big Ten championship game on record
- Most-watched CFB telecast of championship week on any network
- FOX’s third most-watched non-bowl CFB game ever
Cowboys-Lions Produces Most-Watched TNF on Prime Game Ever
Fresh off an all-time high for Black Friday Football, Prime Video’s presentation of Thursday’s Cowboys-Lions showdown averaged 19.39 million viewers, setting a new all-time mark for the most-watched TNF on Prime regular season game ever. Viewership of Thursday’s game eclipsed Prime Video’s previous all-time high by almost two million viewers, which was a mark set earlier this season (17.76M, Commanders-Packers, 9/11/25). Additionally, Thursday’s game reached a peak audience of 22.18 million, establishing another all-time benchmark for the fastest-growing NFL media package.
The TNF Tonight pregame show also registered an all-time high on Thursday with 2.53 million viewers. Along with the postgame show, TNF Nightcap, both programs are capturing their largest overall audience figures on record this season, with double-digit, year-over-year growth among P2+, as well as impressive gains within the hard-to-reach P18-34 demographic.
Entering the final three weeks of the schedule, the 2025 TNF on Prime campaign is poised to achieve an unprecedented third-consecutive season of double-digit viewership growth. Thursday Night Football is now averaging 15.20 million viewers, pacing +15% ahead of the 2024 full-season average (13.20M), +28% vs. the 2023 season average (11.86M), and +59% vs. the inaugural 2022 season (9.58M).
Below, please find additional viewership highlights from Cowboys-Lions and the 2025 TNF on Prime season. Please note that all 2025 figures are from Nielsen’s Big Data + Panel measurement.
- Thursday’s Cowboys-Lions game averaged 19.39 million viewers, setting a new all-time high viewership mark for TNF on Prime.
- Cowboys-Lions averaged 1.63 million more viewers than the previous all-time high for TNF on Prime, achieved earlier this season (17.76M; Commanders-Packers, 9/11/2025).
- Cowboys-Lions was up +12% vs. last season’s comparable game (17.29M, Packers-Lions, 12/5/24), which at the time set the record for most-watched TNF game ever on Prime Video.
- Thursday’s game marked the 11th time this season that the NFL on Prime has posted a year-over-year viewership increase.
- Thursday’s game attracted the highest peak audience ever for TNF on Prime with 22.18M viewers between 9:15 and 9:29 p.m. ET.
- Season-to-date, TNF is averaging 15.20M viewers (P2+), continuing its best season ever on Prime Video.
- The 12-week average is up +15% vs. last year’s full-season average (13.20M), +28% over the 2023 full-season average (11.86M), and +59% over the 2022 full-season average (9.58M).
- Thursday’s Cowboys-Lions game powered double-digit increases for TNF on Prime across key adult demographics:
- Within the P18-34 demo, TNF averaged 3.12M on Thursday, and is now averaging 2.88M viewers on the season, up +10% vs. last year’s full-season average (2.61M).
- Within the P18-49 demo, TNF averaged 7.84M on Thursday, and is now averaging 6.83M viewers on the season, up +14% vs. last year’s full-season average (5.99M).
- Within the P25-54 demo, TNF averaged 8.66M on Thursday, and is now averaging 7.44M viewers on the season, up +13% vs. last year’s full-season average (6.58M).
- Within the P55+ demo, TNF averaged 8.31M on Thursday, and is now averaging 5.92M viewers on the season, up +16% vs. last year’s full-season average (5.12M).
- Season-to-date, TNF on Prime’s median age is 49.0, which is almost seven years younger than audiences watching the NFL on linear networks (55.9).
- TNF on Prime’s postgame show, TNF Nightcap, averaged 2.84M viewers on Thursday, and is now averaging 2.74M viewers this season, up +34% over last year’s full-season average (2.04M).
- TNF Nightcap’s median age is 45.8, the youngest among all NFL shoulder programming.
- TNF Tonight, TNF on Prime’s pregame show that kicks off each week at 7:00PM ET, averaged 2.53M viewers on Thursday, marking its most-watched show in franchise history.
- TNF Tonight is now averaging 1.90M viewers this season, up +24% over last year’s full-season average (1.53M).
- Up Next: The Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ quest for the NFC South crown must go through their division rivals on Thursday night, as the Atlanta Falcons look to play spoiler.
