Seven Chiefs games in 2022 were among the top 31 most-watched prime-time telecasts
Less than two years ago, the NFL secured $110 billion from television networks in an 11-year broadcast deal that turned some heads.
If that seems like a huge amount of money, well, it is. But the television ratings for 2022 showed why the networks agreed to pony up that cash.
Variety revealed the top 100 prime-time telecasts from last year, and 40 were NFL games. That story notes that sporting events took 66 of the top 100 spots, including six each for the World Series, NBA Finals and Winter Olympics.
NFL games took up each of the first eight slots and 22 of the top 25. The Academy Awards ceremony (which included Will Smith’s infamous slap) was 23rd, while the college football championship game was ninth and a Winter Olympics broadcast ended up 10th overall.
The highest-rated scripted television show was episode 10 in season four of “Yellowstone,” which came in at No. 32.
Seven Chiefs games made the top 100 prime-time telecast, and none was ranked lower than 31st. Two Chiefs games finished in the top five most-watched broadcasts.
Here’s a closer look at the numbers from Variety.
No. 3: Chiefs-Bills divisional playoff game on Jan. 23 (43,157,000 viewers) on CBS
No. 5: Chiefs-Steelers wild card playoff game on Jan. 16 (29,125,000) on NBC
No. 11: Chiefs-Buccaneers “Sunday Night Football” game on Oct. 2 (21,058,000) on NBC
No. 19: Chiefs-Chargers “Sunday Night Football” game on Nov. 20 (18,063,000) on NBC
No. 22: Chiefs-Titans “Sunday Night Football” game on Nov. 6 (17,875,000) on NBC
No. 25: Chiefs-Raiders “Monday Night Football” game on Oct. 10 (15,987,000) on ESPN
No. 31: Chiefs-Chargers “Thursday Night Football” game on Sept. 15 (13,148,000) on Amazon Prime
The Chiefs were unbeaten in those seven games.
Four of the “Thursday Night Football” games on Amazon Prime cracked the top 100, led by the Chiefs-Chargers contest. “Sunday Night Football” dominated again with 14 of those games among the top 27 broadcasts.
The top-rated “Sunday Night Football” game was the Buccaneers-Cowboys contest (No. 8 overall), while the Chiefs-Buccaneers game was next (No. 11).
Unsurprisingly, Super Bowl LVI was the top-rated broadcast of 2022 with 99,659,000 viewers.
This story was originally published January 6, 2023 at 10:02 AM.
