NFL Games Top Local Ratings in 25 Markets
After three weeks of the season, NFL games rank as eight of the nine most-watched sporting events since Super Bowl XLV.
A pair of Week 3 telecasts topped sports viewership last week (Sept. 19-25) with the FOX national telecast (mostly Packers-Bears) drawing 24.0 million average viewers and the Steelers-Colts Sunday night game on NBC drawing 20.4 million viewers.
Following are the most-watched sporting events since Super Bowl XLV:
| Program | Viewers |
| 1. NBC Thursday Night Kickoff Game (Saints-Packers), 9/8 | 27.2 million |
| 2. FOX Sunday National (mostly Giants-Redskins), 9/11 | 25.8 million |
| 3. NBC Sunday Night Football (Cowboys-Jets), 9/11 | 25.8 million |
| 4. FOX Sunday National (mostly Packers-Bears), 9/25 | 24.0 million |
| 5. NBA Finals Game 6 (Dallas-Miami), 6/12 | 23.9 million |
| 6. NBC Sunday Night Football (Eagles-Falcons),9/18 | 23.4 million |
| 7. CBS Sunday National (mostly Chargers-Patriots), 9/18 | 22.7 million |
| 8. FOX Sunday Single (mostly Chi-NO & Dal-SF), 9/18 | 22.5 million |
| 9. NBC Sunday Night Football (Steelers-Colts), 9/25 | 20.4 million |
| 10. NCAA Basketball Championship (UConn-Butler), 4/4 | 20.1 million |
Locally, NFL games topped the ratings in 25 NFL markets. Following is the list of the NFL markets where football was the top-rated program for the week of Sept. 19-25:
| Week of 9/19–9/25 |
|
HH |
HH |
RTG |
|
| Market | Game |
Date |
RTG |
SHR |
Rank |
| Milwaukee | Packers at Bears |
9/25/11 |
50.4 |
76 |
1 |
| Pittsburgh | Steelers at Colts |
9/25/11 |
48.5 |
67 |
1 |
| New Orleans | Texans at Saints |
9/25/11 |
47.7 |
69 |
1 |
| Indianapolis | Steelers at Colts |
9/25/11 |
40.7 |
56 |
1 |
| Baltimore | Ravens at Rams |
9/25/11 |
35.3 |
57 |
1 |
| Buffalo | Patriots at Bills |
9/25/11 |
35.3 |
65 |
1 |
| Chicago | Packers at Bears |
9/25/11 |
33.2 |
58 |
1 |
| Minneapolis | Lions at Vikings |
9/25/11 |
32.4 |
68 |
1 |
| Kansas City | Chiefs at Chargers |
9/25/11 |
29.9 |
51 |
1 |
| Nashville | Titans at Broncos |
9/25/11 |
28.2 |
48 |
1 |
| Philadelphia | Giants at Eagles |
9/25/11 |
28.1 |
52 |
1 |
| Cleveland | Dolphins at Browns |
9/25/11 |
27.5 |
54 |
1 |
| Boston | Patriots at Bills |
9/25/11 |
27.4 |
60 |
1 |
| San Diego | Chiefs at Chargers |
9/25/11 |
27.1 |
52 |
1 |
| Detroit | Lions at Vikings |
9/25/11 |
25.8 |
49 |
1 |
| Houston | Texans at Saints |
9/25/11 |
25.3 |
47 |
1 |
| St. Louis | Rams at Giants |
9/19/11 |
23.4 |
34 |
1 |
| Atlanta | Falcons at Bucs |
9/25/11 |
23.1 |
41 |
1 |
| Jacksonville | Jaguars at Panthers |
9/25/11 |
23.1 |
40 |
1 |
| Carolina | Jaguars at Panthers |
9/25/11 |
22.6 |
45 |
1 |
| Denver | Titans at Broncos |
9/25/11 |
22.6 |
52 |
1 |
| Seattle | Cardinals at Seahawks |
9/25/11 |
22.2 |
51 |
1 |
| Phoenix | Cardinals at Seahawks |
9/25/11 |
21.0 |
39 |
1 |
| Washington, DC | Steelers at Colts |
9/25/11 |
17.4 |
29 |
1 |
| San Fran-Oakland | 49ers at Bengals |
9/25/11 |
14.9 |
40 |
1 |
Source: NFL & The Nielsen Company
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