Whenever the Kansas City Chiefs and quarterback Patrick Mahomes face the Cincinnati Bengals and quarterback Joe Burrow, it always feels like must-see television.
Sunday’s matchup at Arrowhead Stadium — a 26-25 Chiefs win — was no different, as the grudge match between the AFC rivals drew a record number of viewers, according to CBS.
With 27.8M viewers, Sunday’s game was the most-watched “NFL on CBS” game in the month of September since the 1998 season. It was also an 8% increase in viewers from the network’s Week 2 game last season.
The Bengals-Chiefs game also set a record on Paramount+ as the most-streamed regular-season game of all time on the platform, which was part of the company’s most-viewed regular-season day of all time.
In addition to crushing Sunday’s ratings, CBS is also off to a record start of the year as well. The network is seeing its highest viewership since 1998 with 19.85M viewers per week, which is a 5% increase versus what the network did last season, it’s most-viewed season to date.
Sunday’s game, in addition to showcasing two of the top quarterbacks in the NFL and two Super Bowl contending-teams, was packed with drama.
There were several questionable penalties called on the Bengals, which prompted many to voice their frustrations on social media about referee bias for the Chiefs — something that happened after their 27-20 season-opening win over the Baltimore Ravens two weeks ago as well.
The ratings boost likely was also due to pop superstar Taylor Swift being in attendance at the game, supporting her boyfriend, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
