Sports
NBC Sports Posts Largest Two-Game NFL Kickoff Weekend Audience In A Decade & Second Best All-Time, Averaging 26.5 Million Viewers Across NBC & Peacock
Sports
NBC Sports Posts Largest Two-Game NFL Kickoff Weekend Audience In A Decade & Second Best All-Time, Averaging 26.5 Million Viewers Across NBC & Peacock
Sep 09, 2025
Key Takeaways
Thrilling Ravens-Bills Game is Most-Watched NBC 'Sunday Night Football' Opener Since 2022
NFL Kickoff Weekend Games on NBC are Two Most-Watched Primetime Shows since Super Bowl LIX in February
Led by Peacock, Both NFL Kickoff Weekend Games set NBC Sports Streaming Milestones
Stamford, CT
NBC Sports kicked off its milestone 20th season of Sunday Night Football – primetime’s #1 show for an unprecedented 14 consecutive years – with a pair of memorable, down-to-the-wire thrillers decided by a combined five points.
The two games – Dallas Cowboys-Philadelphia Eagles in the NFL Kickoff Game and Baltimore Ravens-Buffalo Bills in the Sunday Night Football opener – averaged 26.5 million viewers across NBC and Peacock, marking NBC Sports’ largest two-game NFL Kickoff Weekend audience since 2015 and the second-best opening in NBC SNF’s two-decade history, based on official Nielsen Big Data + Panel and digital data from Adobe Analytics.
NBC’s 2025 NFL Kickoff Weekend average viewership trailed only 2015, as Steelers-Patriots in NFL Kickoff ’15 and Cowboys-Giants in the Sunday night opener averaged 27.2 million viewers.
Led by Peacock, NBC Sports set a streaming record across the two NFL Kickoff Weekend games with an Average Minute Audience (AMA) of 4.0 million viewers. Both games also set individual streaming milestones (details below).
Additional NBC Sports’ NFL Kickoff Weekend viewership notes:
- Buffalo’s 41-40 victory over Baltimore, highlighted by the Bills scoring 16 points in the final four minutes to overcome a 15-point deficit, averaged a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of 24.7 million viewers on NBC and Peacock– SNF’s most-watched Sunday opener since 2022 (25.0 million for Buccaneers-Cowboys). Viewership peaked early in the first half at 28.2 million viewers from 9-9:15 p.m. ET.
- The NBC broadcasts of the Kickoff Weekend games rank as the two most-watched primetime shows since Super Bowl LIX in February on FOX, based on official Nielsen data.
- The Average Minute Audience (AMA) for Thursday night’s Cowboys-Eagles livestream via Peacock, NBC Sports Digital platforms, and NFL Digital platforms, was 5.0 million viewers – the 2nd most simulstreamed NBC NFL game ever (most streamed regular-season game), topping three NBC Super Bowls (trailing only Super Bowl LVI in 2022) based on data from Adobe Analytics.
- Led by Peacock, Sunday night’s Ravens-Bills livestream delivered an AMA of 3.0 million viewers – NBC Sports’ most-streamed Sunday night NFL game on record.
