Lions and Tigers and … TV ratings. Oh, my, as Dick Enberg would say.
The Lions and Tigers both drew significant television audiences in the last week, numbers not seen in several years for similar-slotted programming, according to official data released by the networks Tuesday.
The Lions-Chiefs game in Kansas City on Sunday night averaged 27.3 million viewers across NBC and Peacock linear and streaming platforms, making it the second-most-watched October game in the history of NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” franchise.
The audience ranked behind only the 28.4 million who watched quarterback Tom Brady and his new team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, play his old new, the New England Patriots, in October 2021.
The Chiefs’ 30-17 win over the Lions peaked at 30.6 million viewers in the second quarter, according to NBC, which also said it’s averaging more than 25 million viewers for “Sunday Night Football” this year. That makes it the best six-week start in the 20-year history of “Sunday Night Football.”
The Tigers, meanwhile, drew a lot of eyeballs on Friday night, in their epic 15-inning, 3-2 loss to the Mariners in Seattle in Game 5 of the American League Division Series.
According to Fox, which aired Game 5, the game averaged 8.723 million viewers, making it the most-watched Division Series game since 2011, when the Tigers beat the New York Yankees, 3-2, in Game 5 of that series. This year’s Game 5 also was Fox’s best Friday night baseball game since Game 1 of the 2025 World Series between the Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers. That game averaged 14.3 million viewers.
Fox reported that all ALDS games (airing on Fox and FS1) averaged 4.15 million viewers, making it the most-watched Division Series on Fox since it brought postseason baseball back in 2014, and making it the most-watched Division Series on any network since 2015. ALDS viewership was up 37% from the 2025 ALDS, Fox said.