The Texans-Ravens game drew 31.8 million viewers, the most-watched NFL game in ESPN history

Nearly 32 million people tuned in to watch Lamar Jackson's dominant performance in the Baltimore Ravens' 34-10 win over the Houston Texans on Saturday night, making it the most-watched NFL game in ESPN history, according to a company press release. The game was broadcast on ESPN, ABC, ESPN+ and ESPN Deportes.

The audience of 31.8 million viewers — which swelled to a peak of 36.2 million in the third quarter — surpassed the company record of 31.2 million viewers, set on Jan. 16, 2023, when the Dallas Cowboys defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 2023 wild-card round.

ESPN has broadcast NFL games since 1987 and has had six of the seven most-watched game broadcasts in the past two seasons. The company's “Monday Night Football” broadcasts also had a record 2023 season, with all three of the MNF's most-watched games occurring in November and December 2023.

According to ESPN, the Texans-Ravens game beat marks for NFL games from all Disney-owned channel broadcasts, with the exception of the Super Bowls. This includes games played on ABC. The company broadcast Super Bowl XXXIV, Super Bowl XXXVI, and Super Bowl XL.

NBC's broadcast of the Miami Dolphins' fall to the Kansas City Chiefs in the Wild Card Round exclusively on Peacock drew 23 million viewers, making it the most-streamed game in NFL history. The 2023 AFC Championship Game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Kansas City Chiefs on CBS averaged 53.1 million viewers.

Where did this increase in viewership come from?

If you want to know the origin of ESPN's NFL viewership record last Saturday, you'll go back to 2021 when the NFL announced its new set of national television deals with its media rights-holder partners through the 2033 season.

As part of this deal, along with ABC getting two Super Bowls (the first in 2026), ESPN gets a divisional playoff game in addition to the company previously broadcasting a wild-card playoff game. So it was inevitable that ESPN would get a huge number in this round regardless of the teams. Just as Fox did with its broadcast of the Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys (that game drew 40 million on Fox).

Expanding out-of-home viewing metrics are also driving viewership numbers higher. ESPN/ABC's NFL record set last Saturday is sure to be broken as the years go by given the presence of the Super Bowl. For reference, this isn't the most watched game ever on ESPN/Disney. That came on January 4, 2006, when Texas beat USC in a classic in the Rose Bowl. That game drew 35.6 million viewers on ABC. — Richard Deitch, senior media correspondent

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(Photo: Tommy Gilligan/USA Today)