NFL Ratings: Sunday Night Football viewership plummets, but Fox sets ratings record for Bucs vs Saints
Week 1 of the NFL is in the books and as far as ratings go, things don't look too bright as the NBC's coverage of the season opener and the Sunday night football encounter between Los Angeles Rams and Dallas Cowboys saw a low in terms of viewership amid the player protests. While on the other hand, Fox Sports' broadcast of Brady's Buccaneers vs New Orleans Saints was a massive success.
According to reports, the decline in viewership was massive. Last season's Week 1 scrimmage between the Pittsburgh Steelers and New England Patriots garnered 22.2M viewers while this year's Sunday Night Football saw it dip to 18.94M. As per a Daily Mail report, the season opener between the defending champs, Kansas City Chiefs, and Houston Texans registered 19.3M viewers, which is actually 12.3% lesser than last year's Green Bay Packers vs Chicago Bears.
As per Deadline, factoring the digital platform numbers bumped up the SNG numbers a bit as it comes up to 19.5M viewers. Dubbed as the game of the week, Fox's coverage of the Bucs vs Saints game had an overnight rating of 16.2/35, according to Yahoo, the network's highest rating for NFL's Week 1 since 2016.
That said, the Chiefs vs Texans game still averaged 6.7 in the 18-49 demographic, according to The Hollywood Reporter that made it the most-watched after the Super Bowl broadcast earlier this year. Daily Mail also added that Nielsen ratings have taken precedence as the league has no fans in-stadia due to the outbreak of the coronavirus. In addition, the player protests have been integral as well. Players across sports have taken a stand against racism and are doing their bit by writing social justice messages in the form of shirts and banners to show their support.
Last month, the Kenosha protests over the shooting of Jacob Blake saw multiple teams across the NBA and MLB refuse to take the court and the field as a sign of protest. This eventually moved to other sports such as tennis that pushed their games to the following day. This season's NFL started off with 'Lift Every Voice and Sing' and Monday saw the Steelers team stand for the National Anthem with a banner that also said, "Steelers against Racism."
(This story will be updated).