The NFL’s decision to move its first game of the regular season up a day to Wednesday did not seem to pay off in terms of television ratings.
Wednesday’s Week 1 Super Bowl rematch between the defending-champion Seattle Seahawks and visiting New England Patriots drew 25.1 million viewers on NBC and Peacock.
The television ratings were down 11% from last year’s opening game between the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles, which was played on a Thursday night and delayed over an hour due to inclement weather. That Cowboys-Eagles game was the least-viewed opening game of an NFL season since 2022.
The viewership numbers in the 18-49 age range were strong. This year’s Patriots-Seahawks game was the most-viewed in that age group for an NFL opener since 2021, according to NBC.
The game on Thursday between the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams in Melbourne, Australia averaged 18.5 million viewers on Netflix. It peaked at 21.3 million in the 9:30-9:45 p.m. ET time frame, before the 49ers separated after halftime in the 27-7 victory.
Globally, the 49ers-Rams game drew 21.7 million, and was the most-viewed NFL game of all time in Australia.
–Field Level Media
