RATINGS: NBC's Two-Game NFL Kickoff Weekend Viewership Up 8% From 2018

The New England Patriots' 33-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers in the most-lopsided NBC SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL season-opener ever (30-point margin), delivered NBC's second viewership increase in four days over last year's corresponding NFL Kickoff Weekend game - marking the first time both of NBC's NFL opening weekend games posted year-over-year increases since 2015.

The Patriots' win, highlighted by Tom Brady's 341 passing yards and three touchdowns, averaged a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of 22.7 million viewers across NBC TV, NBC Sports Digital, and NFL Digital platforms, according to fast national data released by Nielsen, and digital data from Adobe Analytics.

Last night's viewership topped last year's down-to-the-wire SNF opener (22.6 million viewers for Bears-Packers) featuring Aaron Rodgers' second-half return from injury to lead the Packers to a come-from-behind 24-23 victory after trailing by 17 points at halftime.

Coupled with last Thursday night's Packers-Bears NFL Kickoff Game - which also registered a viewership increase over last season - NBC's two-game NFL Kickoff Weekend viewership average of 22.7 million viewers is up 8% from last year's first two NBC games (21.1 million TAD).

The Average Minute Audience (AMA) for Sunday night's live stream via NBC Sports Digital and NFL Digital platforms was 523,000 viewers - NBC Sports Digital's highest for a regular-season Sunday night game, and up 30% from last year's opening Sunday night game (403,000 for Bears-Packers).

NBC Sports Digital's live stream of Steelers-Patriots ranks as its most streamed Sunday regular-season game ever. Fans consumed 90.4 million live streaming minutes across 3.0 million unique devices, up 3% and 66%, respectively, from last year's SNF opener.

Last night's game (8:23 p.m.-11 p.m. ET) registered a national TV household rating of 12.6/24 and averaged 22.2 million viewers on NBC. Steelers-Patriots peaked at 25.1 million TV viewers from 9:15-9:30 p.m. ET, as the Patriots built a 20-0 halftime lead.

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