The Buffalo Bills’ victory over the Kansas City Chiefs was the most-watched National Football League (NFL) regular season game since 2007 outside of Thanksgiving and Christmas Day fixtures.
Confirmed:
- Average audience of 31.2 million viewers watched CBS’s broadcast of the Bills’ 30-21 win, making it the most-watched game of the 2024 NFL season so far
- Matchup is the fourth most-watched game in a national broadcast window on record, dating back to 1988
- Game ranks among ten most-watched NFL games on record in any window, excluding Thanksgiving
Context:
Excluding holiday games, the Bills v Chiefs was the most-watched NFL regular season game since Tom Brady’s New England Patriots faced Peyton Manning’s Indianapolis Colts in 2007.
The game also topped this season’s previous high delivered during the Chiefs’ game against the Baltimore Ravens, which averaged 29.2 million viewers on NBC. The Chiefs have now featured in the three most-watched matches this season, including 27.9 million viewers on CBS for their win over the Cincinnati Bengals in week two.
Similarly to what drove the audience for the Patriots-Colts matchup in 2007, the significant viewership can in part be attributed to the star power of the Chiefs’ Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes, who recently ranked 12th and 36th respectively on SportsPro’s list of the world’s 50 Most Marketable Athletes (50MM), as well as Bills quarterback Josh Allen.
