The Week 13 game between the Dallas Cowboys and Kansas City Chiefs on Thanksgiving Day made NFL history.
According to CBS Sports, via Nielsen, the contest between Dallas and Kansas City averaged 57.23 million viewers, which makes it the most-watched regular season game in league history.
The previous NFL viewership record was held by the Cowboys-New York Giants game on Nov. 24 last year that averaged 42.059 million viewers.
Cowboys-Chiefs shattered that record by a whopping 36%.
“The NFL. Thanksgiving. Chiefs. Cowboys. A perfect recipe for a record audience,” CBS Sports’ President and CEO, David Benson, said. “We’re thrilled and honored this NFL showcase on CBS and Paramount+ delivered the most-watched regular-season game in NFL history.”
The Thanksgiving Day contest saw a peak of more than 61 million viewers, which came during the game’s conclusion between 7:45 p.m. ET and 8 p.m. ET.
There’s a few reasons why the viewership was so high.
The contest between the Cowboys and Chiefs was a good one, so no surprise that a lot of people tuned in.
It also helped that both teams have big fan bases, and Cowboys-Chiefs was the only game going at the time.
The Cowboys ultimately emerged victorious, 31-28, and the game was very close throughout and Kansas City was only down by a field goal before the Cowboys managed to close the game out on their final offensive series.
The result was huge for the Cowboys and Chiefs.
Both teams entered the game with very little margin for error as they look to make the playoffs from the outside looking in. That fact is particularly surprising for Kansas City, as this is uncharted territory during the Patrick Mahomes era.
Entering Week 14, the Cowboys sit in second place in the NFC East and in the No. 9 spot in the conference playoff picture. Meanwhile, Kansas City sits in third place in the AFC West and in the No. 10 spot in the conference.
