Most-watched sports telecasts: the charts
Nielsen average audience, one figure per telecast; a final or revised figure replaces a preliminary one. Composites, peaks, reach and self-reported figures do not chart.
11,475
eligible telecasts
updated 2026-10-08
Top events · October 2026
Full chart1
Kansas City Chiefs at Las Vegas Raiders
28,450,000
2
Detroit Lions at Carolina Panthers
19,506,000
3
Pittsburgh Steelers at Cleveland Browns
16,587,000
4
Philadelphia Phillies at Atlanta Braves
6,130,000
5
Ohio State Buckeyes at Iowa Hawkeyes
5,970,000
6
Atlanta Braves at Los Angeles Dodgers
5,370,000
7
Alabama Crimson Tide at Mississippi State Bulldogs
5,080,000
8
Indianapolis Colts at Washington Commanders
4,987,000
9
Miami Hurricanes at Clemson Tigers
4,630,000
10
Florida Gators at Missouri Tigers
4,440,000
Top 10 of 46 eligible telecasts · computed 2026-10-08 22:37 UTC
Top telecast by sport
1
NFL
127,700,000
2
MLB
54,860,000
3
Olympics
40,700,000
4
FIFA
38,937,000
5
NBA
35,890,000
6
College Basketball
35,110,000
7
College Football
33,400,000
8
FIFA Women's
25,400,000
9
Golf
20,300,000
10
NASCAR
19,400,000
11
Horse Racing
18,030,000
12
NHL
8,723,000
13
UFC
7,000,000
14
IndyCar
6,711,000
15
Tennis
6,200,000
16
WNBA
3,440,000
17
Formula 1
3,070,000
By year
All-timeMonths of 2026
By decade
Rankings move as archive ingestion adds telecasts; cite the computed timestamp with the rank.