The first game of the 2024 NFL season reached a massive audience.
NBC announced that Thursday night’s Ravens-Chiefs game had an average audience of 28.9 million viewers, which made it the most-watched of all the NFL Kickoff games since the league began the tradition of starting the season on a Thursday night.
The viewership increased by 5 percent over last year’s 27.5 million viewers for the Lions-Chiefs opener.
Kansas City was the top local market with a 43.4 local rating and 80 share, which means that 80 percent of all TVs in use on Thursday night in Kansas City were tuned in to the Chiefs. Baltimore had the second-best local viewership with a 24.5 rating and 60 share.
The NFL has proven to be the one television property in America that is immune to the viewership declines associated with cord cutting, streaming and the fracturing of the TV audience. As the election approaches, many Americans may watch news instead of sports, and the league’s ratings could see some drop-off. But 2024 started with a bang for the NFL.
