The ratings are in, and the Thanksgiving Day matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Dallas Cowboys is now the most-watched NFL regular-season game in history.
Chiefs-Cowboys Historic Ratings
Historic viewership for Chiefs-Cowboys: 57.230 million viewers
🏈 Most-watched regular-season game ever, shattering previous record by 36%
🏈 Audience peaked with more than 61 million viewers
🏈 Full release: https://t.co/aeOWDsqOJ5 pic.twitter.com/mqOmcn8wSL
— CBS Sports PR (@CBSSportsGang) December 3, 2025
After the Chiefs and Cowboys won their Week 13 games in exciting fashion, excitement toward their Thanksgiving Day match-up was through the roof.
Many NFL experts predicted that Chiefs-Cowboys had a chance to become the most-watched regular-season game in NFL history.
Per CBS Sports, the Chiefs-Cowboys Thanksgiving Day game garnered a record-breaking 57.230 million viewers. The audience peaked with 61.357 million viewers.
The matchup became Paramount+’s most-streamed NFL regular-season game ever.
The viewership for Chiefs-Cowboys breaks the previous record held by the 2022 Thanksgiving Day game between the Giants and Cowboys — 42.059 million viewers.
During the same time slot in 2024, CBS Sports’ Thanksgiving Day game between the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys registered 38.839 million viewers. That’s a 47% increase in viewers from 2024 to 2025.
The Chiefs-Cowboys game, which came down to the wire, also played a huge factor in the high viewership.
Dallas led Kansas City 20-14 heading into the fourth quarter. The two teams combined to score 25 points in the fourth quarter, with the Cowboys winning the game 31-28.
Dak Prescott finished 27 of 39 for 320 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception. CeeDee Lamb finished with seven receptions for 112 yards and one touchdown. His running mate, George Pickens, hauled in six catches for 88 yards.
Patrick Mahomes did everything in his power to win the game for Kansas City, throwing for 261 yards and four touchdowns.
Defense, which allowed 457 total yards, and penalties (10) contributed to the Chiefs’ loss.
With the win, Dallas moved to 6-5-1, 1.5 games back of the Philadelphia Eagles for the NFC East lead. If the Cowboys beat the Detroit Lions on Thursday night, the Eagles will be under immense pressure to win their matchup against the Chargers on Monday night.
Meanwhile, the Chiefs are 6-6 and outside the playoff race in the AFC. Sunday night’s game against the Texans is a must-win to keep their postseason hopes alive.
Ratings for the Other Thanksgiving Day Games
A Thanksgiving football feast 👏🤩 pic.twitter.com/ezentzw9Up
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) December 3, 2025
Earlier that day, Fox’s game between the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions averaged 47.7 million viewers, a new record for an early-window game on Thanksgiving. It also became Fox’s most-watched regular-season game ever.
It held the record for the most-watched regular-season game in history for a few hours before Chiefs-Cowboys surpassed it.
The Packers defeated the Lions 31-24.
In the nightcap, the game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Baltimore Ravens averaged 28.4 million viewers on NBC, Peacock, and Telemundo.
Bengals-Ravens is the most-watched Thanksgiving night NFL game ever. The Bengals won 32-14.
