Viewership of NFL games is up 3% through Week 6, as games are drawing 16.0 million viewers this season compared to 15.6 million at this point last year. On the network side through Week 6, CBS is averaging 17.0 million viewers, the best in three seasons to this point and up 9% over last year (15.6 million). Fox is averaging 18.9 million viewers per game this season, up 7% from 17.7 million at the same point last year. On Sunday nights, NBC is averaging 19.8 million viewers for "SNF," down 1% from 19.9 million last year. Through seven games, ESPN's average audience for "MNF" is 11.9 million viewers, up 3% season-to-date (11.5 million in '18).
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DIGITAL HAPPENINGS: NFL Exec VP/Media Brian Rolapp said consumption of games via digital streaming is up 51% through Week 5, with "TNF" games averaging a 1.3 million average-minute audience on Amazon, a new high-water mark. "Amazon does a great job," Rolapp said. "They market it, they've added interactive features to it, it's also streamed on Twitch, which brings a whole incremental audience that probably wasn't here a few years ago, so it's been good story for us." Meanwhile, the league has not yet begun negotiating its next round of media rights, Rolapp said. The current deals expire after the '21-22 season. "We have no set timetable," he said. Rolapp: "There's been a lot of people who have expressed interest, outside of our current partners, knowing our deals are coming up."
