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NFL Week 1 Games Deliver Several Record Audiences For League TV Partners

NFL Week 1 game coverage delivered several audience record figures for the league's media partners. NBC finished with an average of 27.1 million viewers for its two games -- Thursday and Sunday night -- marking a Week 1 record for the network. Giants-Cowboys delivered 26.8 million viewers, marking the second-best "SNF" opener on record, behind only the 27.6 million viewers for Steelers-Broncos in '12 (Peyton Manning's debut with the Broncos). Giants-Cowboys also is up 13% from 23.8 million viewers for Colts-Broncos last year. NBC's Steelers-Patriots game on Thursday finished with 27.4 million viewers, marking the second-best NFL Kickoff audience since the event launched 14 years ago.

SINGLES CRUISE: Fox averaged 20.1 million viewers for singleheader coverage on Sunday afternoon, which was highlighted by Packers-Bears. That figure is the NFL's best Week 1 singleheader audience on record, with figures dating back to '88. It also is Fox' best audience for any program since the U.S.-Japan FIFA Women's World Cup Final in July (22.3 million viewers). The singleheader was up 22% compared to CBS' Week 1 telecast last year (16.5 million viewers).

THE LATE SHIFT: ESPN averaged 13.92 million viewers for its opening "MNF" games, marking the net's second-best average on record for its Week 1 doubleheader. The record remains 13.98 million viewers set in '13 for Eagles-Redskins and Texans-Chargers. Vikings-49ers on Monday (10:15pm ET kickoff) drew 14.33 million viewers, marking the first time a late-window "MNF" game has outdrawn the early window. It also was ESPN's best audience on record for a Week 1 late window "MNF" game. Falcons-Eagles in the early "MNF" window drew 13.56 million viewers, down from 13.73 million viewers for Giants-Lions last year.

NOT ALL ROSY: CBS finished 23.3 million viewers its Week 1 national window on Sunday, which featured Ravens-Broncos in 80% of markets. That figure is down 17% from the opening national window last year on Fox, which featured 49ers-Cowboys. Figures for CBS' regional window on Sunday were not available at presstime.

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