NFL Viewership Nears Historic High At Midseason

Through the first nine weeks of the 2026 season, NFL games are averaging 18.3 million viewers, the second-highest audience for this point in the season and a 2% increase from 2025, according to league data. The league also holds the top 49 most-watched shows since the start of the current television season, according to ⁠Front Office Sports.

Weeknight packages have been a major factor. ESPN’s Monday Night Football is averaging 19 million viewers, up 24% from the same point last year. The network’s Week 9 broadcast of the Buffalo Bills’ win over the Minnesota Vikings drew 21.7 million viewers across ESPN, ABC and other platforms, the largest Week 9 audience in the ESPN Monday Night Football era, which began in 2006.

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Amazon’s Thursday Night Football on Prime Video is averaging 17.2 million viewers so far this season, up 13% from last year’s midseason mark and 12% from the full-season average in 2025, which was a record for the streamer since it took exclusive rights in 2022. Week-to-week gains for the package have frequently reached double digits.⁠

Among Sunday rights holders, CBS is averaging 19.5 million viewers and is on pace for its most-watched season. NBC’s Sunday Night Football is averaging 22.5 million, while Fox is averaging 18.5 million. Those Sunday figures are off slightly from the networks’ full-season averages in 2025.⁠

The strong weekday audiences come as the NFL faces ongoing scrutiny over the number and placement of Sunday games. The league is approaching Thanksgiving and Christmas, including a new Thanksgiving Eve game on Netflix.