NFL TV Ratings 2022: Best Viewership In Years For Week 1 Games

The country's most popular sport seems to be getting even bigger. Week 1 of the 2022 NFL season gave the league its highest weekend viewership in a few years.

The NFL's television broadcasts had an average of 18.5 million viewers for Week 1, marking the league's best number since the first weekend of the 2016 season. Viewership was also up 3% compared to last season.

The NFL's impressive TV ratings included afternoon and primetime games. More than 121 million people watched NFL games in Week 1.

An average of 19.84 million people watched the Seattle Seahawks beat the Denver Broncos on "Monday Night Football. The game did an 11.1 rating across ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN+ and ESPN Deportes. It marked the program's highest Week 1 viewership since 2000.

Monday's game was Russell Wilson's return to Seattle after being traded to Denver in the offseason. Wilson was the Seahawks' quarterback for a decade, and he led the team to a pair of Super Bowl appearances and a championship. The contest was decided in the final seconds.

"Sunday Night Football," wasn't nearly as exciting, and it still managed to register a strong TV rating. An average of 25.5 million people watched the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeat the Dallas Cowboys 19-3 in a largely one-sided affair. It was NBC's biggest audience for a Week 1 game in seven years, according to the network.

The Pittsburgh Steelers' overtime win over the Cincinnati Bengals Sunday was CBS' most-watched Week 1 regional window since 1998 with an average of 17.38 million viewers. The broadcast gave CBS an increase in viewership of 21% from last season's opener.

Week 1 started off slow for the NFL. The Thursday night Kickoff Game had lower viewership than last year by a considerable margin. The Buffalo Bills beat the Los Angeles Rams 31-10 in a contest that was not very competitive.

An average of 21.7 million people watched the first game of the season.