Niners Nation
Even in a down year, the 49ers remained one of the most popular teams in the NFL
Despite a disappointing season, the San Francisco 49ers remained among the most-watched and followed teams in the NFL. It didn’t that the Niners had been successful in recent years and had just come off a Super Bowl appearance.
According to the end-of-season data compiled by Sportico, the Niners pulled the 8th-largest national TV audience in the NFL this year. More than 20.3 million viewers tuned in weekly to the 49ers.
The 49ers seem to be the only team on the West Coast that can capture the attention of fans. The next highest team out west was the Los Angeles Rams, who came in at No. 20, averaging 15.9 million viewers. The Los Angeles Chargers followed them, but you have to go down to the 25th to find the Seattle Seahawks and the 28th and 29th for the Las Vegas Raiders and Arizona Cardinals.
Is football an afterthought on the West Coast? Those numbers would suggest so. It might be due to the lack of interest in the bigger cities or how warm weather climates pull attention away from the masses. But that didn’t stop folks from tuning in to watch the 49ers, even in a year when their playoff hopes were over in early to mid-December.
The Detroit Lions, Dallas Cowboys, Kansas City Chiefs, and Breen Bay Packers were the top five teams in terms of viewership.
