JR Radcliffe, Milwaukee Journal SentinelWed, December 3, 2025 at 6:21 PM UTC·1 min readThe Green Bay Packers game on Thanksgiving with the Detroit Lions drew an average of 47.7 million viewers, according to Fox, which set a record for the most-watched NFL regular-season game.
But there are two caveats, and the first one is a biggie: The record didn't survive the afternoon.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementWithin a few hours, 57.2 million viewers had flocked to CBS for the Dallas Cowboys-Kansas City Chiefs clash that re-wrote the record book for the second time that day.
The end of the Lions-Packers game had an estimated 58 million viewers. It was 61.4 million near the end of Cowboys-Chiefs.
And there's this other caveat: Nielsen revamped its ratings reporting in September, attempting to paint a more accurate picture by gathering data from smartphones and smart TVs. In the past, Nielsen has extrapolated data based on a sample of households. NFL ratings have been up across the board this season.
The previous single-game record was set in 2022 when the Cowboys faced the New York Giants, also on Thanksgiving. That game drew 42 million.
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A list produced by Front Office Sports before the season highlighting the 10 most-watched regular-season games ever featured the Packers once — against the Lions in 2023, also on Thanksgiving, at No. 9 with 33.7 million.
In fact, seven of the 10 games on the list were games played on Thanksgiving. Dallas was in six of the 10 games.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Packers-Lions had NFL regular-season ratings record. For a few hours
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