The start of the college football season in late August brought some life back to broadcast networks after a summer of declining viewership. The pros delivered a much bigger punch in September.
The first weeks of the NFL season brought a strong resurgence in broadcasters’ share of total television usage in the United States, according to Nielsen’s Gauge statistics for September. Broadcast channels accounted for 22.3 percent of the audience, up from 19.1 percent in August and the highest rating since January, when it was 22.5 percent.
The month’s top 15 network broadcasts were all NFL games on CBS, Fox and NBC, led by 33.8 million viewers for the Sept. 14 game on Fox between the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs. (ABC and ESPN also delivered several big Monday Night Football (ratings, but their totals are, obviously, split between broadcast and cable in the gauge.) Sports accounted for a full third of the network’s viewing for the September period (which covered September 1-28), with a change in how Nielsen gathers its data likely contributing to that increase.
Cable also accounted for 22.3 percent of TV usage in September (up from 22.5 percent in August), with NFL broadcasts on ESPN and NFL Network accounting for the top five broadcasts. The 44.6 percent total TV viewing for linear channels is the highest since April (45.3 percent).
Streaming remains by far the largest platform at 45.2 percent, but that mark represents a second consecutive month of decline following a record audience share of 47.3 percent in July. Seasonal viewing shifts have largely fueled the decline, as streamers’ sports inventory is smaller (via Prime Video Thursday Night Football performed well during the month) and the onslaught of original titles has slowed somewhat compared to the summer months.
YouTube remained the top individual streamer with 12.6% of all TV usage, although its total declined for the second month in a row.
Nielsen gauge figures for September 2025 are below.
