All Lions

Lions Set Amazon TNF Viewership Record

Lions continue to be popular draw for NFL's broadcast partners.
Detroit Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown (14) runs against Dallas Cowboys during the second half at Ford Field in Detroit on Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025.
Detroit Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown (14) runs against Dallas Cowboys during the second half at Ford Field in Detroit on Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025. | Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

In this story:


The Detroit Lions continue to be a popular draw for the NFL's broadcast partners

Amazon generated an average of 19.39 million viewers for its Thursday Night Football broadcast on Prime Video on Dec. 4 featuring the Cowboys and the Lions. It stands as the largest such regular-season number since Amazon began streaming TNF in 2022.

In the Week 14 affair, the Lions emerged victorious, 44-30, avoiding losing two straight games for the first time since the 2022 season. In doing so, Dan Campbell's squad kept its playoff hopes alive, too. 

Detroit now sits just a game back of the Chicago Bears for the final playoff spot in the NFC, with four games to go. According to Next Gen Stats, the Lions currently have a 51 percent chance of clinching a playoff berth. If such occurs, it would mark a third straight postseason appearance for Campbell & Co.

The aforementioned viewership figure beat Amazon’s prior record viewership mark, an average of 17.76 million for a Sept. 11 contest between the Commanders and the Packers to begin its 2025 NFL schedule, by nine percent. 

Additionally, the Cowboys-Lions TNF viewership total eclipses the NFL’s season-to-date average of 18.6 million viewers per game across all networks; this itself marks the league’s best average through this point in the season since the 1989 campaign.

The Cowboys, widely billed as “America's Team,” were also one-half of the NFL game that set an all-time viewership mark this season. Dallas’ Thanksgiving Day clash with the Kansas City Chiefs, in fact, drew a record 57.2 million viewers. The telecast occurred on CBS, and was preceded by the Lions’ divisional affair with the Green Bay Packers on Fox. 

The aforementioned Packers-Lions contest also drew a massive audience, averaging a staggering 47.7 million viewers. It became the most-watched early Thanksgiving Day NFL game ever and Fox's most-watched regular season game ever. 

The Lions’ Week 15 matchup with the L.A. Rams should also be a ratings success. The highly-anticipated contest pits Detroit with its former signal-caller Matthew Stafford and his high-flying Rams, which currently own the No. 1 seed in the NFC at 10-3. It'll be another playoff-type game for the Lions, with Detroit direly needing to win to stay alive in the NFC playoff picture.

Fox will telecast the game at 4:25 p.m. (EST) from SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif. Fox Sports’ No. 1 broadcast team, consisting of play-by-play voice Kevin Burkhardt, seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady and reporters Erin Andrews and Tom Rinaldi, are expected to call the must-see tilt.

More from Detroit Lions OnSI


Published | Modified
Vito Chirco
VITO CHIRCO

Vito has covered the NFL and the Detroit Lions for the past five years.  Has extensive reporting history of college athletics, the Detroit Tigers and Detroit Mercy Athletics.  Chirco's work include NFL columns, analyzing potential Detroit Lions prospects coming out of college, NFL draft coverage and analysis of events occurring in the NFL.  Extensive broadcasting experience including hosting a Detroit Tigers podcast and co-hosting a Detroit Lions NFL podcast since 2019.