2012 NFL Viewership Recap

http://sportsmediajournal.com/ The NFL yesterday released combined viewership numbers for the 2012 season. And once again there is no doubt that their product is king. According to the league the 2012 season reached 200 million unique viewers, equal to 80% of all television homes and 69% of potential U.S. viewers. NFL games were also 31 of the top 32 most-watched programs during the fall season. For the first time an NFL game was the most-watched program each week of the 17 week fall season. NFL games on CBS, Fox and NBC averaged 19.3 million viewers, 154% higher than the average primetime viewership on the big four networks. Late afternoon games on Fox led all networks with an average audience of 24.8 million viewers. Late action on CBS had an average of 23.0 million viewers while NBC averaged 21.4 million viewers. Monday Night Football on ESPN was the most-watched program on cable television during the season with an average of 12.8 million viewers. Thursday Night Football on the NFL Network averaged 7.3 million viewers, making it the most-watched program in cable Thursday nights. In the 32 local markets, NFL games were the number one program 93% of the time this season.