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An extra week of games, close finishes and not being in an election year helped propel the NFL to its highest regular-season ratings in six years.
The league's highest average since 2015 is the 17.1 million viewers who watched the games on television and digital platforms.
The 19-game package for Monday Night Football was up 16% over last year, and averaged 14.18 million. It is the network's best regular-season audience since 2010 and third best since 2006 when the package moved to cable from ABC.
It was expected that the 2020 season would increase the television audience for the league, with empty stadiums presenting a strange viewing dynamic and many people changing their viewing habits. The first half of the season was in the midst of a presidential campaign.
The league played 17 regular-season games for the first time. There were not many victories. In the fourth quarter, more than half of the games this season were within one score.
The top 16 games in the league accounted for 91 of the top 100 broadcasts on television. The Dallas Cowboys were involved in five of the 10 most-viewed games, including the Thanksgiving Day match with the Las Vegas Raiders, which averaged 40.8 million viewers. That game was the most watched regular-season game on any network in 31 years and one of only two since 1988 to average at least 40 million viewers.
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