Getty Images
National Football League (NFL) games were responsible for 82 of the top 100 most-viewed US broadcasts in 2022, according to a study by Sports Business Journal (SBJ).
Confirmed:
- 2022 figure of NFL broadcasts is up from the previous year’s total of 75
- The most-viewed broadcast was NBC’s coverage of the Los Angeles Rams’ Super Bowl LVI win over the Cincinnati Bengals on 13th February, which drew 110.4 million viewers
- 19 of the top 20 most-viewed broadcasts were NFL games, but none of Amazon’s Thursday Night Football (TNF) broadcasts made the list (six TNF broadcasts from Fox/NFL Network made the 2021 list)
- Five college football broadcasts made up the list, which also featured two telecasts each from the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, the 2022 Fifa World Cup and the National College Athletic Association’s (NCAA) March Madness basketball tournament
- The National Basketball Association (NBA) and Major League Baseball (MLB) were kept off the top 100 for the third straight year
Context:
Sports programming continues to provide broadcasters with strong value, as it formed 94 of the top 100 most-viewed broadcasts for 2022.
Coming next:
The strength of the NFL’s popularity will feature heavily in the future thinking of its rivals, particularly the NBA which is readying itself for negotiations covering the next cycle of media rights.
