NFL viewership is down four percent through two weeks (but it's still the third highest on record)

The second week of the 2026 NFL season attracted better viewership than the first week, relative to 2025.

Via Austin Karp of Sports Business Journal, average viewership is down four percent in comparison to last year, through two weeks.

The games are averaging 19.9 million viewers over the first two weeks. The Week 2 games averaged 20.4 million.

Last week, the games averaged 19.5 million, a 13-percent drop over Week 1 from last year.

It’s the third-highest average through two weeks in NFL history. The best years were 2015 and 2025.

Week 3 is headlined by Rams-Broncos on Sunday night, Ravens-Cowboys from Brazil in the late-afternoon window, and Eagles-Bears on Monday night.

Tonight’s game features the Falcons at the Packers, the first of three straight prime-time games for 0-2 Atlanta.