Quarterback Lamar Jackson # 8 of the Baltimore Ravens tosses versus the Las Vegas Raiders throughout the very first half of their video game at Allegiant Stadium on September 13, 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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The National Football League ended the very first week of its 2021 routine season drawing approximately 15.29 million audiences throughout ESPN channels, consisting of ABC network, for the Monday Night Football opener in between the Las Vegas Raiders and Baltimore Ravens.
The Raiders beat the Ravens 33-21 in a back-and-forth overtime video game with several twists to conclude Week 1. Viewership was up 42% compared to in 2015’s video game, and leading markets consisted of Baltimore, Las Vegas, Sacramento, Kansas City, and San Diego.
The 2020 MNF contest in between the New York Giants and Pittsburgh Steelers brought in approximately just 10.76 million audiences. With the pandemic playing an element, that video game was down approximately 17% compared to the very first video game of ESPN’s 2019 Week 1 doubleheader, which included the New Orleans Saints and Houston Texans and balanced 13.2 million audiences on ESPN channels.
On Monday, ESPN likewise debuted its alternate MegaCast including Peyton and Eli Manning supplying commentary for the Raiders-Ravens video game on its ESPN2 channel. The telecast brought in 800,000 audiences. The Manning siblings signed a three-year handle Disney- owned ESPN which will include the set providing their ideas and in-game breakdowns throughout the NFL season.
Cleveland Browns running back Nick Chubb (24) discovers an opening in the line versus the Kansas City Chiefs on September 12 th at GEHA field at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri.
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Meanwhile, Sunday’s nationwide NFL video game on ViacomCBS including the Cleveland Browns and Kansas City Chiefs balanced 19.53 million audiences. It was the most-watched opening weekend nationwide video game on CBS considering that the 2015 opener in between the Ravens and Denver Broncos contest (2328 million audiences).
Fox Sports’ balanced 16.23 million audiences for its Green Bay Packers vs. New Orleans Saints nationwide video game. That’s below in 2015’s nationwide opener in between the Saints and Tampa Bay Bucs, which included a star quarterback match in between Drew Brees and Tom Brady, and balanced 25.8 million audiences.
The network got in the NFL opener after drawing 7.7 million audiences for its Saturday Oregon vs Ohio State college video game.
The NFL started its 102 nd season last Thursday with approximately 26 million overall audiences for its Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Dallas Cowboys contest. NBC stated the video game peaked on TELEVISION at 25.4 million audiences in between 9: 45 p.m. and 10 p.m. ET. The 2021 opener marked a 20% boost in overall viewership from in 2015’s NFL kickoff including the Chiefs and Texans.
Overall, the NFL stated it’s Week 1 video games integrated balanced 17.4 million audiences, and drew “approximately” 100 million audiences in overall throughout all video games.
Disclosure: NBC Sports, which shares parent business NBCUniversal with CNBC, broadcasts NFL video games.
