Cowboys-Chiefs Thanksgiving game draws record-shattering 57 million viewers

The Kansas City-Dallas connection flexed its muscles on Thanksgiving,

The Cowboys’ 31-28 victory over the Chiefs garnered a record-breaking figure in the ratings, with CBS announcing that a whopping 57.2 million viewers tuned in for the big game, the most for any regular-season game in NFL history.

This beats the previous record by a wide margin, when 42 million viewers tuned into the Cowboys vs. Giants Thanksgiving game in 2022.

Both teams being in the thick of the playoff race and a thrilling Dallas victory coming down to the final whistle likely played a huge role in the ratings boon.

The Packers vs. Lions early game, which began at 1 p.m. ET on Fox and Tubi, averaged 47.7 million viewers.

The night game between the Ravens and Bengals drew 28.4 million viewers, the most of any late window game in Thanksgiving history.

It is worth noting that Nielsen has changed the way that they track this data to give more accurate numbers for out-of-home viewership as the world delves into streaming and cable numbers.

Regardless, the powers that be at the NFL clearly knew what they were doing by putting two big draws in the Cowboys and Chiefs together in the second Thanksgiving window, appealing to an enormous audience that is boosted by Taylor Swift being engaged to Kansas City star tight end Travis Kelce.

The Cowboys being one of the most popular teams in the NFL, with the differentiated viewership that Swift was able to bring the Chiefs when she began dating Travis Kelce, is just one way the networks benefited on Thanksgiving even without the star singer in attendance.

Previous reports stated that Swift brought in early a billion dollars in revenue to the NFL since 2023 with increased social media, news and digital coverage.