John Kosner Told Eric Prisbell of The Dallas Morning News that the Kansas City-Dallas Thanksgiving Day Game Would Become the NFL’s Highest-Rated Regular Season Game … Which It Did!

Original Article: Dallas Morning News, by Eric Prisbell, November 25th, 2025

Cowboys-Chiefs was mostwatched regular-season NFL game ever

With an average of 57.2 million viewers, the viewing audience for Cowboys-Chiefs blew away the previous NFL regular season game mark.

The Cowboys-Chiefs game on Thanksgiving — which was hailed as a “dream scenario” for the NFL and CBS — attracted an average of 57.2 million viewers, by far the largest audience ever to watch a regular-season NFL game.

The viewing audience easily eclipsed the previous record of 42.1 million, who watched the 2022 Thanksgiving game between the Cowboys and Giants. The audience for this year’s game peaked with 61.357 million viewers from 6:45–7 p.m. CT, according to CBS.

This year’s Thanksgiving matchup, which the Cowboys won 31–28, was widely expected to be ratings gold because it had all the trappings of a must-see affair.

On one side of AT&T Stadium was America’s Team, while on the other side were the Chiefs, who have become the AFC’s version of America’s Team during the Patrick Mahomes era. It is also partially the era of Taylor Swift, whose relationship with tight end Travis Kelce has enabled the franchise to transcend the traditional sports audience.

It helped that the game — close to an elimination game for both teams — was decided in the final minutes, with the Cowboys breathing life into once far-fetched playoff hopes.

Thanksgiving was a banner day for the NFL. The average viewership across all three games — including the Green Bay Packers–Detroit Lions early game and the Cincinnati Bengals–Baltimore Ravens primetime game — was 44.7 million, the highest Thanksgiving average on record (dating back to 1988). This was the fourth consecutive year the NFL set a Thanksgiving viewership record.

The early game on Fox between the Packers and Lions averaged 47.7 million viewers. And the Bengals–Ravens game on NBC averaged 28.4 million.

Digital streaming across platforms for the three games delivered an average minute audience of 2.2 million, the highest on record for Thanksgiving and up 58% over last year.

“Thanksgiving and NFL football have become synonymous,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement.

Another element that was expected to bolster viewership figures: Nielsen’s new Big Data + Panel methodology, which better accounts for out-of-home and streaming viewers.

Even though Swift was not in attendance at AT&T Stadium, there was also the considerable entertainment factor, which included the anticipated halftime show by Grapevine-raised Post Malone. His set, nearly eight minutes, included singles “Wrong Ones” and “I Had Some Help,” and a bluesy rendition of the older hit “Wow.”

“Post can do no wrong around here. I’m really not exaggerating,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said after the game. “Post was a good show. He’s great. The main thing is our relationship with Post Malone is fitting.”

There was little doubt the game would break the NFL regular-season viewership mark. The more interesting question was whether it would top 50 million viewers.

John Kosner, who led digital media at ESPN from 2003–2017 and is president of media consulting firm Kosner Media, believed it would, telling The Dallas Morning News beforehand:

“The Chiefs at Cowboys, in a must-win situation for both teams, playing late afternoon/early evening eastern time on Thanksgiving is a dream scenario for the NFL and CBS. I see it getting to 50 million viewers — or within margin of error — and becoming the most-watched NFL regular-season game ever.”