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NFL Off To Solid Start, With Viewership Up 5% For Week 1

NFL viewership in Week 1 was up 5% compared to the opening games in '18 despite many lopsided scores in some marquee windows. Fox featured Giants-Cowboys in the NFL national window in Week 1, and the 23.9 million viewers for the telecast marks the best audience for anything on TV since the Oscars back in late February. "Fox NFL Sunday" also averaged 5.2 million viewers, the pregame show's best start since '16. "Fox NFL Kickoff" in the 11:00am ET window averaged 1.43 million viewers, the show's best start yet. Meanwhile, NBC, which had Packers-Bears in the NFL Kickoff game and Steelers-Patriots in the opening "SNF" telecast, averaged a total audience delivery of 22.7 million viewers for the two games, up 8% from last season's Week 1 doubleheader. Included in those numbers was an average minute audience of 523,000 viewers on NBC digital platforms for Steelers-Pats, marking the best streaming figure yet for an "SNF" telecast. With CBS airing two blowouts to half the country in its singleheader -- Titans-Browns and Chiefs-Jaguars -- the net was down 10% compared to Week 1 last season, when the net aired a competitive Patriots-Texans game. ESPN had its best Week 1 "MNF" doubleheader since '15. The Saints' comeback win against the Texans averaged 13.08 million viewers, up 27% from Lions-Jets last year. In the late game, Broncos-Raiders drew 10.62 million viewers, up 11% from Rams-Raiders last year. 

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