The NFL's centennial season is off to a solid viewership start, with average game audience numbers up 5% through the first four weeks of the season.
Combining linear and digital audiences, NFL games averaged 16.6 million viewers per contest, compared to 15.8 million at the corresponding stage of the 2018 regular season.
From a TV perspective alone, the games tallied an average audience of 16.3 million, according to the NFL, citing data from Nielsen Holdings PLC, up 4% from 15.7 million last year.
Digital viewing has grown at a 48% clip, translating into an average minute audience of 481,000 viewers per contest. For the Dallas-New Orleans game on Sept. 29, NBC Sports Digital and NFL Digital platforms scored an average minute audience of 599,000, making it the most streamed regular-season NFL game ever, according to Adobe Analytics. Season to date, "Sunday Night Football" streaming rose at a 36% rate.
The momentum thus far this season underlines the NFL's position as the top property in linear television, as live audiences for entertainment programming on broadcast and cable continue to decline significantly in the face of the proliferation of subscription video-on-demand services and delayed viewing options.
During September, 19 of the 20 most watched shows were from the NFL camp.
