Take a pinch of Patrick Mahomes, a dash of Lamar Jackson, add some Taylor Swift sizzle, and a fantastic finish.
What does that formula equal? The most-watched NFL Kickoff Game of all time.
Thursday night’s thrilling 27-20 victory by the Kansas City Chiefs over the Baltimore Ravens averaged 28.9 million viewers on NBC and Peacock, based on live plus same-day custom fast nationals from Nielsen and digital data from Adobe Analytics. The game topped viewership for last year’s season opener (27.5 million for Detroit Lions-Chiefs) by five percent.
NBC said the game peaked at 33 million viewers in the second quarter (between 9:30 and 9:45 p.m. ET). Lightning delayed kickoff until 8:40 p.m. ET, which likely dropped the viewership number, given the game’s late conclusion at 11:55 p.m. ET.
NBC said it drew 4.6 million viewers on its digital platforms, up 65 percent from last year’s NFL Kickoff Game (2.8 million viewers).
The top three metered markets for the game (based on 44 markets available) were Kansas City, Baltimore and Denver.
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(Photo: Scott Winters / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
