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The NFL is king when it comes to television viewership and right now the Kansas City Chiefs are the hottest team in the kingdom, even when they lose. Such was the case Sunday when CBS carried the latest matchup between the Chiefs and the Buffalo Bills, who are led by two of the top quarterbacks in the game in Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen. Austin Karp of the Sports Business Journal was first to report this latest round, which went to Buffalo 30-21, drew an average audience of 31.2 million viewers.
That number makes the game the most-watched regular season game, not counting ones played on Thanksgiving or Christmas, since before Barack Obama was in office. The last non-holiday regular season game to draw that type of audience came in Week 9 of the season in 2007 in a game between the New England Patriots and the Indianapolis Colts.
The game, which saw the Chiefs lose for the first time this season, is the most-watched game of the 2024 season to date. Additionally, Bills-Chiefs is the 4th most-watched national window on record, dating back to 1988, and ranks among the 10 most-watched NFL games on record in any window (excludes Thanksgiving).
In addition to the massive number for the Chiefs-Bills, CBS also had the game between the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers in its regional window. The game was viewed by an average audience of 19.8 million. That number is the best the network has done in the regional network since 1992.
