From the moment the 2025 schedule was announced, it was obvious that the Chiefs-Cowboys Thanksgiving game would break the all-time regular-season audience record.
It obliterated it.
According to CBS, 57.23 million viewers, on average, watched the game. It surpassed the prior record of 42.1 million, set by the Giants and Cowboys on Thanksgiving 2022, by 36 percent.
Viewership peaked at 61.357 million during the 15-minute period of 7:45 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. ET.
The game had all the ingredients to set a new record. Captive audience. Captivating franchises. National brands. Star players. And two teams trying to thread a narrowing needle on a playoff berth.
And, yes, the numbers got a boost from the “Big Data + Panel” metric, which captures out-of-home viewing better than ever before. Which bodes well for the remaining high-stakes, standalone regular-season games — and for the playoff contests in a year that should have a wide-open postseason.
