NFL releases TV ratings for 2024 season and Chiefs games dominate viewership
Fans who arrived early for Sunday night’s Chargers-Bengals game at SoFi were glued to the video boards showing ... the Chiefs.
There were cheers when the Chiefs lost 31-20 in Buffalo, and that happiness about Kansas City’s defeat was shared by fans of other teams across the nation.
It’s another example of how the Chiefs have supplanted the Cowboys as America’s Team. Having three Super Bowl titles in five seasons and two of the biggest stars in Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce has broadened the Chiefs’ appeal across the nation.
And it’s also ratcheted up the number of fans who loathe the Chiefs’ success.
Add that up and Chiefs games have become must-watch television.
The Chiefs’ loss Sunday at Buffalo was seen by 31.2 million TV viewers, the NFL announced Wednesday. Sports Business Journal writer Austin Karp said that was the highest-rated non-holiday NFL game since the unbeaten Patriots beat the Colts on Nov. 4, 2007.
The NFL said since the start of the 2024 season, 47 of the 50 most-watched shows on TV have been league games. The NFL shared a look at the top five top-rated games and guess who dominates the list?
Yep, it’s the Chiefs. Four of the their games are ranked in the top five:
- Sunday’s game at Buffalo: 31.2 million
- Week 1 (Chiefs vs. Ravens): 28.0 million
- Week 2 (Chiefs vs. Bengals): 27.9 million
- Cowboys-Ravens in Week 3: 27.3 million
- Week 7 (Chiefs vs. 49ers): 27.1 million
There’s more. The Chiefs-Falcons game in Week 3 had 25.1 million viewers, The Athletic reported, and the Chiefs-Raiders game in Week 8 was seen by 25 million viewers, despite being available to only 41% of the country.
This is not an anomaly.
Five of the top 10 most-watched prime-time telecasts of 2023 were Chiefs games.
“This year, CBS has seven Chiefs games, NBC has four (including three prime-time games), ESPN has two, Fox has one, Netflix has one and Prime Video has one,” The Athletic’s Richard Deitsch wrote. “There is an open game Week 18 against the Broncos that will likely head to a big window. Kansas City plays five times in the late-afternoon slot, the most valuable real estate on television.
“Management at all these networks should be advocating heavily for the Chiefs above all other teams, including the Cowboys, for their 2025 schedule. Dallas will still get its heavy share of prime-time games and high-profile windows, but the Chiefs will end up with higher-profile windows, including (just a hunch here) more than one game on Fox.”
Yep, America can’t get enough of the Chiefs.
This story was originally published November 20, 2024 at 10:58 AM.
