Are You Ready for Some Football? NFL Audiences Were

The NFL’s hold on American audiences shows no signs of abating.

Thursday night’s opening contest between the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens drew an NFL Kickoff Game-record 28.9 million viewers on NBC and streaming service Peacock, according to NBC Sports, a unit of Comcast’s (CMCSA) NBCUniversal.

The ratings came even as the game, a rematch of last season’s AFC Championship, was delayed by lightning.

Friday night’s game in Sao Paulo between the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers — the NFL’s first game ever in Brazil and available only on Peacock — garnered 14.2 million viewers, nearly doubling the streamer’s figures for its prior exclusive NFL regular-season game. It had the second-highest viewership of any Peacock live event in its history.

Football continues to be a powerful television draw. Of the 100 most-watched TV broadcasts in 2023, 93 were NFL games, according to Nielsen data.

‘Monday Night Football’ Ratings May Be Hit by DirecTV’s Disney Blackout

However, the final Week 1 game — tonight’s game between the New York Jets and the San Francisco 49ers — may not garner such rosy viewership figures.

Satellite provider DirecTV has blacked out Walt Disney (DIS)-owned channels over the past week amid carriage negotiations. Disney’s ESPN and ABC broadcast “Monday Night Football.”

Barring a last-minute agreement, tonight’s game will not be shown on DirecTV. A solution doesn’t appear likely: After DirecTV filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) over the weekend, alleging Disney has not been negotiating in good faith, it now is offering to pay customers to subscribe to Sling, owned by rival Dish Network, and Fubo (FUBO) so they can watch the game.