Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson # 8 pitched against the Las Vegas Raiders during the first half of his game at Allegiant Stadium on September 13, 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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The National Football League ended the first week of the regular season of 2021 reaching an average of 15.29 million viewers through ESPN channels, including ABC, for the Monday Night Football premiere between Las Vegas Raiders and the Baltimore Ravens.
The Raiders beat the Ravens 33-21 in a round-robin game with upcoming rounds to conclude Week 1. The vision increased 42% compared to last year’s game, and the major markets went include Baltimore, Las Vegas, Sacramento, Kansas City, and San Diego.
The 2020 MNF contest between the New York Giants and Pittsburgh Steelers attracted an average of just 10.76 million viewers. Because the pandemic played a major factor, this game dropped approximately 17% compared to the first game of the double header of ESPN Week 2019 2019, which featured the New Orleans Saints and Houston Texans. and had an average of 13.2 million viewers on ESPN channels.
On Monday, ESPN also premiered its alternate MegaCast with Peyton and Eli Manning, commenting on the Raiders-Ravens game on their ESPN2 channel. The broadcast attracted 800,000 viewers. The Manning brothers signed a three-year deal with Disney-owned ESPN, which will include the couple offering their thoughts and advances in the game during the NFL season.
Cleveland Browns runner-up Nick Chubb, 24, finds an opening on the line against Kansas City Chiefs on Sept. 12 at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri.
William Purnell | Sportswire Icon | Getty Images
Meanwhile, Sunday’s NFL national game on ViacomCBS with the Cleveland Browns and Kansas City bosses averaged 19.53 million viewers. It was the most-watched national headline match on CBS since the 2015 opening between the Ravens and Denver Broncos contest (23.28 million viewers).
Fox Sports garnered an average of 16.23 million viewers for its national game Green Bay Packers vs. New Orleans Saints. That fell short of last year’s national opening between the Saints and Tampa Bay Bucs, which featured a star quarterback clash between Drew Brees and Tom Brady, and averaged 25.8 million. spectators.
The network entered the NFL opening after attracting 7.7 million viewers for its Saturday game between Oregon University and Ohio State.
The NFL began its 102nd season last Thursday with an average of 26 million viewers in total for its Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Dallas Cowboys. NBC said the game peaked on television with 25.4 million viewers between 9:45 p.m. and 10 p.m. ET. The opening of 2021 meant a 20% increase in the total number of spectators compared to the start of last year’s NFL with the Chiefs and Texans.
Overall, the NFL said that the combined games in Week 1 had an average of 17.4 million viewers and that it attracted “approximately” 100 million viewers in all games.
Disclosure: NBC Sports, which shares parent company NBCUniversal with CNBC, broadcasts NFL games.