FOX Sports attained viewership milestones pertaining to its National Football League and Major League Baseball broadcast properties on Sunday, making for a historic day at the network. Starting with the New York Jets’ thrilling upset win over the Philadelphia Eagles, America’s Game of the Week drew an average of 26.085 million viewers, rendering it the most-watched NFL telecast from any network in the 2023 regular season. Moreover, it was the most-watched television program since Super Bowl LVII.
The game, which was scheduled within the 4:25 p.m. EST/1:25 p.m. PST window, featured Kevin Kugler delivering the play-by-play and Mark Sanchez on color commentary. Sanchez played quarterback for both the Jets and the Eagles throughout his 10-year NFL career, leading viewers to refer to the game as the “Sanchez Bowl.”
The viewership metric was up 3% over last year’s comparable game window and part of a 3% rise in regional average viewership in Week 6 of the NFL on FOX. With New York and Philadelphia being the No. 1 and No. 4 designated market areas (DMAs) in the country respectively, according to Nielsen Media Research, there was anticipation that the game could reap lucrative ratings.
Perhaps a benefit to these markets tuning in, along with the timing of the events, FOX Sports reported its largest Game 1 audience for the American League Championship Series (ALCS) since 2010. On Sunday, Houston Astros’ matchup against the Texas Rangers garnered an average of 7.27 million viewers across FOX Sports platforms through linear and digital distribution. The game achieved ratings that were 28% higher than last year’s first game of the ALCS between the New York Yankees and aforementioned Astros.
Experts believe that having the Jets-Eagles game as a lead-in, which itself was preceded by injured Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers emerging to throw passes on the field weeks after suffering a torn Achilles tendon, benefitted the ALCS broadcast. The series resumes on Wednesday night in a pivotal Game 3 matchup from Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas where the Rangers will seek to gain a 3-0 foothold on the Astros. A win in that game, which veteran pitcher Max Scherzer is starting for Texas, will put the team one win away from the American League pennant and, furthermore, a subsequent World Series appearance.
