NFL: Texans at Chiefs sees record viewership for ESPN
January 21, 2025

ESPN’s 2025 NFL Divisional Round presentation delivered a record-breaking audience across ESPN platforms in the US, as the Houston Texans at the Kansas City Chiefs on January 18th became the company’s most-watched NFL game of all-time.
The 32.7 million viewers surpass every NFL on ESPN game, playoffs and regular season, since 1987 (38 seasons), the first year when the network aired NFL games.
ESPN’s Texans-Chiefs viewership is expected to surpass 33 million viewers when Nielsen reports the final audience in the coming datys. The current viewership of 32.7 million viewers includes the vast majority, but not all audiences from ESPN, ABC and ESPN+.
The record was previously held by the Houston Texans at Baltimore Ravens playoff match on January 20th 2024 which drew an audience of 32.3 million.