ESPN Keeps Its Record-Breaking NFL Season Going With Texans-Ravens
ESPN continued its record-breaking NFL Season with the highest-rated game in network history.
ESPN’s NFL Divisional Playoff presentation of the Houston Texans versus the Baltimore Ravens set the high water mark for ESPN, becoming the most-watched NFL game ever on the network.
Record-Breaking Viewership
With an audience of 31.8 million viewers, last Saturday’s game surpassed the 2023 Super Wild Card Monday night game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the top spot. By the time that Nielsen reports its final numbers, the viewership total is expected to surpass 32 million.
Including last week’s Super Wild Card Monday game between the Eagles and the Buccaneers, ESPN’s three most recent playoff games are also the network’s most-watched NFL games ever.
Comparing Saturday’s game with all other networks, ESPN’s game already surpassed every Divional Saturday early window game dating back to 2015 except last season’s Jaguars-Chiefs matchup. ESPN could take the top spot, however, if it gets a boost of 500,000 when the final numbers are tallied.
A Big Season For ESPN
Overall, ESPN has aired its five most-watched NFL games ever in the past 13 months and six of the seven highest-viewed games. These heights were achieved against the backdrop of a record-setting 2023 Monday Night Football season.
This NFL season was the franchise’s most-watched since 2000, with the highest viewership in the ESPN era. Overall, the franchise was up 29% year-over-year.
The Texans-Ravens’ viewership total also marked Disney’s most-watched NFL game, excluding Super Bowls. The 31,767,000 viewers topped the 24 Disney NFL Playoff games in the previous 28 years. That group included 14 games exclusively on ABC (1996-2005), nine on ABC and ESPN (2016-23), and one solely on ESPN (2015).
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