Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Via AP news wire

NFL Kickoff record 28.9 million viewers watch Kansas City hold off Baltimore

Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Your support helps us to tell the story

Kansas City's thrilling 27-20 victory over Baltimore on Thursday night was the most-watched NFL Kickoff game since it started in 2002.

The game had a total audience average of 28.9 million, surpassing the 27.6 million that watched the New England Patriots defeat the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 2015 opener on NBC. Streaming did not start getting added to audience figures until 2016.

It was a 5% increase from the 27.5 million that watched Detroit beat Kansas City in last year’s opener.

Despite the start of the game being delayed 20 minutes due to a storm that included lightning, NBC averaged 24.3 million, according to Nielsen, with the audience peaking at 33 million during the second quarter (9:30-9:45 p.m. EDT).

It also drew a 37 share on NBC, which is its largest for any regular-season game since it started carrying NFL prime time games in 2006. A share is the percentage of all television sets in use at a given time watching a program.

According to Adobe Analytics, streaming on Peacock, NBC and NFL digital platforms averaged 4.6 million.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.