The NFL’s opening weekend delivered blockbuster audiences for both CBS Sports and FOX Sports. With each network touting its biggest Week 1 numbers in years. The results, measured under Nielsen’s new hybrid methodology that blends its traditional panel with “Big Data” from set-top boxes and smart TVs, underscored the league’s dominance as a television powerhouse.
CBS Sports emerged as the biggest winner of the week. The network’s national window, headlined by the Detroit Lions’ showdown with the Green Bay Packers, averaged 23.89 million viewers and an 11.0 rating. That made it CBS’s largest Week 1 NFL audience since 1998. The early window, led by Steelers-Jets, drew 17.05 million viewers, the network’s second-best Week 1 performance in that slot since 1998. Combined, the doubleheader averaged 20.38 million viewers — up 15 percent year-over-year.
Streaming also provided a record lift. Paramount+ posted its most-streamed NFL week 1 ever, highlighted by its two most-watched week 1 games of all time. Lions-Packers ranked first, while Steelers-Jets came in second.
FOX Sports, meanwhile, held its own despite ceding the doubleheader. The singleheader averaged 17.9 million viewers, marking the most-watched Week 1 NFL singleheader on any network since 2015. That year, FOX drew more than 20 million viewers. The network noted that this year’s strong performance reaffirmed its singleheader strength even in an unbalanced week.
This was the first time since 2015 that CBS owned the unopposed doubleheader. While FOX was left with the single header. In that context, CBS’s surge was expected, but FOX still managed to deliver one of its best early-season numbers in nearly a decade.
Although the comparisons are eye-popping, analysts are quick to point to the caveat in how the numbers are being tallied. Nielsen’s new methodology, combining panel data with set-top box and smart TV figures, produces higher totals than the panel-only system long used as the industry standard. That shift makes historical comparisons tricky, though the relative growth across networks still speaks volumes about fan demand.
In short, the NFL remains unmatched as an audience magnet. CBS has not drawn an opening-week national window this strong in more than 25 years. FOX’s single header still topped anything seen in the past eight. With both networks now bolstered by expanded streaming reach, Week 1 reinforced the league’s role as appointment viewing across platforms.
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