Thanksgiving day was a stunning one with the Dallas Cowboys facing off against the New York Giants.
With both teams having a winning record, NFL fans were hungry for this game on Thanksgiving day.
But how hungry were fans on Thanksgiving to watch this NFC East rivalry game?
Cowboys, Giants Game Set An NFL Record
A Friday night tweet by Adam Schefter reveals how many people were watching the NFC East rivalry game on Thanksgiving.
Giants-Cowboys Thanksgiving Day game on FOX averaged 42 million viewers across TV and digital, making it the most-watched NFL regular-season game on record.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) November 26, 2022
With 42 million viewers, it became the most-watched game in NFL history during the regular season.
While the Super Bowl gets much larger numbers than this, it’s still an impressive number of viewers.
The 42 million is a huge number compared to the average number of viewers the NFL gets for regular season games.
During the 2021 season, the NFL had an average of 17.1 million viewers, which was the most since 2015.
Interesting TV stat about NFL viewership: The 2021 NFL regular season averaged 17.1 million viewers (TV+Digital) – the highest regular season average since 2015. NFL games during the 2021 season ranked 91 of the top 100 telecasts on TV.
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) January 12, 2022
With the Cowboys and Giants game, their viewership was more than double the NFL average from 2021.
However, what likely helped the viewership is the record of both teams, as they are both currently playoff contenders.
While their record helps, it was also the Cowboys being “America’s team,” that gave the game a viewership push.
Thanksgiving day of 2021 also saw the Cowboys breaking an NFL viewership record, proving NFL fans love “America’s team.”
In a recap of their 2021 NFL season achievements, CBS Sports included that the Thanksgiving Day game between the Cowboys and Raiders was the most-watched regular-season game on any network in 31 years. It averaged 40.802 million viewers
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) January 11, 2022
With the mix of the teams involved, their records, and the history of their rivalry, it all gave the elements for a must-watch game.
That’s why people took their time out of Thanksgiving day dinner to watch the epic game between the Cowboys and Giants.
