The XFL television ratings were down slightly in week two, but were still incredibly strong overall.
According to Jake Russell, the Sunday game on ESPN between the Dallas Renegades and Los Angeles Wildcats averaged 2.397 million viewers. That’s only a 4.2% decline from the week one time slot, according to ProFootballTalk.
The Saturday ABC game between the DC Defenders and New York Guardians averaged 2.127 million viewers, which was down more than a million viewers from week one, but that’s understandable. That time slot was the season opener, and got bigger ratings out of curiosity and hype. (RELATED: David Hookstead Is The True King In The North When It Comes To College Football)
Some #XFL TV ratings info from ESPN:
Saturday’s DC #Defenders – New York #Guardians game on ABC averaged 2,127,000 viewers, per Nielsen. The telecast peaked from 3:15-3:30 p.m. ET with 2,389,000 viewers.
— Jake Russell (@_JakeRussell) February 18, 2020
More #XFL TV ratings:
Sunday’s Dallas #Renegades – Los Angeles #Wildcats game on ABC averaged 2,397,000 viewers, according to Nielsen. The telecast peaked from 5:45-6 p.m. ET with 3,381,000 viewers.
— Jake Russell (@_JakeRussell) February 18, 2020
Want to know about #xfl staying power compared to the AAF?
Week 2 TV ratings for XFL on ABC:
2.262 Million average viewers
Peak 3.381 MillionWeek 2 TV ratings for AAF:
1.018 Million (TNT)
424,000 (NFL Network)
425,000 (NFL Network)The #xfl is crushing the AAF’s numbers
— Konnor Fulk (@KonnorFulk_XFL) February 18, 2020
The XFL has absolutely crushed it through the first two weeks of action, and the fact the TV ratings are mostly steady is a great sign.
The success of the XFL when it comes to drawing a TV audience will likely be the main indicator of whether or not the league can survive.
So far, it’s had no issue of any kind getting gigantic numbers. Some people might point to the Saturday ABC slot being down, but I don’t think it’s an issue at all.
Again, the first game of the season was going to put up absurd numbers. People were curious, everybody was hyping it up and people tuned in.
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It’s not a troubling sign at all that the numbers went down. The fact they were only down less than five percent Sunday is incredibly impressive.
Through two weeks, it certainly looks like the XFL is here to stay. I couldn’t be more pumped!