CINCINNATI — NFL viewership is up in most cities, and the team that has had the biggest increase in viewers is right here at home, according to the Sports Business Journal's analysis of ratings.
Viewership of your Cincinnati Bengals inside the Cincinnati metropolitan area is up 33% so far this year, the biggest increase across the entire NFL, SBJ said. And it's not even close to other team growth: Tied for second place at 23% growth are Bills and Lions fans.
Approximately 280,000 households on average have watched Bengals games this year so far, according to SBJ, up from 211,000 last season.
It makes sense that the Bengals would see more viewership given their surprise Super Bowl run last year and multiple prime-time games on the schedule, but with a mediocre 2-3 start, unless the team can start winning, the trend may not continue.
SBJ said that 23 NFL teams saw local viewership growth overall so far and while the Bengals hold the biggest growth, they don't hold a candle to total viewership compared to bigger cities like Dallas (753,000 homes), Chicago (740,000 homes) and Philadelphia (739,000 homes).
Comparing the Bengals viewership to its divisional rivals, they are tied for last with Baltimore, which also has seen an average of 280,000 household viewers of its games so far this season, down 3 percent vs. last year. Pittsburgh is up 2 percent with 367,000 homes on average watching games, and while Cleveland leads with 416,000 households on average (because, well, there's nothing else to do in Cleveland), there are 15 percent less Browns fans watching games this year vs. last season. It's worth noting that the Cincinnati metro area population is smaller than each of the other three AFC North cities.
The Bengals are back in action in Louisiana this Sunday when they take on the New Orleans Saints.
