Arguably the NFL’s most highly-anticipated matchup of the year unsurprisingly captured its largest audience so far.

According to Austin Karp of Sports Business Journal, Sunday’s Kansas City Chiefs-Buffalo Bills game on CBS averaged 31.2 million viewers. That beats out NBC’s NFL season kickoff game between the Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens in Week 1 (29.2 million) for the most-watched game this year. Per Karp, it’s the largest regular season audience the NFL has had outside of Thanksgiving and Christmas since Week 9 in 2007 (Patriots-Colts, 33.8 million).

MASSIVE number for Chiefs-Bills in the national window

31.2 million viewers on CBS. Outside Thanksgiving/Xmas, best NFL regular season game since CBS’ Pats-Colts Week 9 in 2007 (33.8 million).

Also: Ravens-Steelers helps CBS to its best regional window since 1992 (19.8 million) pic.twitter.com/OY5PyUDB2a

— Austin Karp (@AustinKarp) November 19, 2024

The network also captured its best regional window audience since 1992. The Ravens’ loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, which went to most major markets (notably excluding New York City and Chicago), helped propel CBS to an audience of 19.8 million for its early slate.

Of course, comparisons to years prior to 2020, when Nielsen introduced its out-of-home viewing measurement, should be taken with a grain of salt. Also of note, despite a record-setting week, CBS is unlikely to tout any viewership metrics through official channels as the network remains at an impasse with Nielsen.

Nevertheless, a strong Week 11 schedule paid off for the network. In an unconventional move, CBS sent its pregame show The NFL Today on-site to Highmark Stadium in anticipation for the game, and they were right to do so. The Chiefs have now played in the three most-watched games this season, with their Week 2 matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals rounding out the top three.

It’s likely Sunday’s matchup will only hold the most-watched superlative for a couple of weeks. Despite the poor quality matchups on the schedule, Thanksgiving Day audiences have regularly drawn in the 30 and 40 million range recently, regardless of who is playing.

Perhaps the most intriguing viewership storyline for the holiday will be if the Super Bowl favorite Detroit Lions can out-rate the moribund Dallas Cowboys.

That’d be another big win for CBS on the viewership front.

[X/@AustinKarp]