Chiefs-Cowboys obliterates all-time NFL Thanksgiving record as Kelce effect laid bare with additional New Heights honor

The Dallas Cowboys’ thrilling 31-28 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs is the NFL’s most-watched regular-season game ever.

CBS managed 57.2 million viewers for the Thanksgiving Day showdown — taking the record that Fox broke just hours earlier.

Getty

The Green Bay Packers vs Detroit Lions on Fox and Tubi averaged 47.7 million viewers.

A Thanksgiving 2022 clash between the Cowboys and New York Giants was the previous holder after 42.1 million people tuned in.

The NFL has been seeing an encouraging trend in figures throughout the 2025 season.

The league set an International Games viewership record by averaging 6.2 million viewers in six games from Dublin, Berlin, Madrid and London.

And average 17.7 million viewers have watched each game — a six percent rise on 2024.

Nielsen has introduced a new measurement system and estimated that it would lead to a three to four percent boost, per Hayes and Campione.

That means the NFL is still overperforming from 2024’s figures.

The Chiefs and Cowboys were selected in Week 13 as two of the biggest draws.

Per Front Office Sports, Kansas City averaged a league high 25.5 million viewers per game last season, while Dallas was third with 23.8 million.

The NFL’s single-game record is 127.7 million viewers from the Philadelphia Eagles‘ Super Bowl triumph over the Chiefs in February.

Getty

Race to the post season is on

On the field, its been a mixed bag for the two times, going in opposite directions. The Cowboys and Chiefs both find themselves in the thick of the playoff battle – but are on the outside looking in, heading into the final weeks of the regular season.

The Cowboys have won three straight to move into contention at 6-5-1, while the Chiefs have lost three of their last four to slip to 6-6.

There is a very real chance that for only the second time in his Chiefs career, Reid will miss the post season, while Mahomes has played in playoffs every season since he was drafted.

There was some good news for Kelce on Wednesday as his ‘New Heights’ podcast alongside brother Jason was crowned Spotify’s number one sport’s podcast of 2025.

With the company’s traditional ‘Wrapped’ series poised to be unveiled, Front Office Sports revealed the best performing audiobooks and podcasts of the year.

NFL's Greatest......

Ranking the top 10......

Quarterbacks of all-time – Can anyone better Tom Brady?

Wide receivers of all-time – Does Randy Moss or Jerry Rice come out on top?

Running backs of all-time – Stacking Jim Brown, Barry Sanders, Walter Payton, Emmitt Smith and more

Tight ends of all-time – How does Travis Kelce compare?

The Kelce brothers signed a $100million, three-year deal to bring their hugely successful podcast under the Amazon umbrella in August 2024.

With 3 million subscribers it’s among the most popular podcasts on the planet and when Travis relationship with Taylor Swift went public their numbers went through the roof.

The pop superstar made her New Heights debut in 2025 and the video version of the episode has been watched an astonishing 24 million times.

That included a new Guinness World Record of 1.3m live viewers when it was launched.

With Jason part of the ESPN crew for Monday Night Football following a $24million three-year deal, all eyes are on Travis’s next steps with a lucrative media career expected to follow when he calls time on his career.

Stay up to date with the latest from the NFL across all platforms – follow our dedicated talkSPORT USA Facebook page and subscribe to our talkSPORT USA YouTube channel for news, exclusive interviews and more.