NFL dominates US television’s top 100 most-viewed programs list in 2023
The National Football League (NFL) continued its dominance on US television in 2023 with 93 of the year’s top 100 most viewed programs belonging to NFL games, as reported by Nielsen.
This marked a significant increase from the previous year, where the NFL claimed 82 spots in the top 100.
The league’s influence extended to a cleansweep of the top 20 broadcasts; seven of the top 10 were playoff games. The regular season saw 17 games attract a viewership of at least 25 million, almost doubling the 2022 total of nine.
Fox’s coverage of Kansas City Chiefs’ triumph over the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LVII on February 12 took the top spot, drawing a colossal 115.1 million viewers. The AFC Championship game between the Chiefs and Cincinnati Bengals on CBS secured the second-highest viewership with 53.12 million.
It's good to be football. pic.twitter.com/t6uhuEhXOe
— Eben Novy-Williams (@novy_williams) January 5, 2024
Dallas Cowboys emerged as the NFL’s most popular franchise, featuring in 18 of the top 100 broadcasts. The Super Bowl-winning Chiefs made their mark with 16 entries, one more than the Eagles’ tally.
While American football dominated the list, college football made its presence felt with three entries in the top 100. Fox’s broadcast of Michigan’s narrow victory over Ohio State led the college football category with 19.07 million viewers. Georgia’s appearances in the SEC Championship game and the College Football Playoff title match-up also contributed to the list.
No other sport managed to break into the top 100, underlining the popularity of American football.
CBS’ coverage of the Connecticut Huskies’ men’s NCAA March Madness championship victory narrowly missed the cut in 101st place, representing basketball’s highest entry. The National Basketball Association (NBA) reached its peak at 120th place with game five of the NBA Finals, while golf’s 2023 Masters final round landed at 131st place. Baseball achieved its highest finish at 140th via game five of the World Series.
With the Super Bowl Lead-out program slotting in at 92nd place, the only non-football entries were political programming (21st), the Thanksgiving parade (45th) and the Academy Awards (60th).
Image credit: All-Pro Reels
