Sports programs accounted for 94 of the top 100 telecasts in the U.S. in 2022, according to Sports Business Journal. Broadcasts of National Football League games accounted for 82 of them.
The ratings reaffirm sporting telecasts as prime real estate for advertisers. Even without the NFL’s huge contribution to the top 100 list, sporting programs still dominate. Four college football games made the list, as did two FIFA World Cup soccer matches, two March Madness college basketball games and two Olympics events. Top non-sports shows included the Academy Awards, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and President Biden’s State of the Union Address. No scripted programming made the top 100 list.
Despite Amazon paying $1 billion annually for exclusive Thursday Night Football rights—an agreement which began in 2022—none of its programs made the top 100 list last year. Fox and the NFL Network, which previously shared the rights, had six programs listed in 2021. Last year, Amazon Prime Video clocked the lowest numbers since the NFL began selling the package in 2014. Amazon averaged 9.6 million viewers throughout the 2022 season, which is a 41 percent decline from the average viewership before Amazon bought the rights, according to Next TV.
