The NFL released a recap of their television ratings for the 2011 season and the San Francisco 49ers and Oakland Raiders popped up in some of their highly rated programming. The league released a list of the top 25 most watched shows of the fall season, as well as the 15 most watched basic-cable shows and the 49ers and Raiders appeared a combined four teams on the two lists.
The 49ers November 13 victory over the New York Giants ranked No. 12 among all fall television shows and No. 11 among football programming with 25.9 million viewers. Among the most watched basic cable shows, the 49ers Monday Night Football victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers was good for third with 16.7 million viewers. The 49ers Thanksgiving loss to the Baltimore Ravens was No. 15 among basic cable shows with 10.7 million viewers. It was also the highest rated NFL Network broadcast.
The Oakland Raiders also made an appearance on the list. Their season opening win over the Denver Broncos was good for No. 13 among basic cable show shows with 11.1 million viewers.
2011 was another record-breaking year for the NFL as millions of viewers tuned in every week for NFL action. More than 200 million unique viewers tuned into the league throughout the season. NFL games were the highest rated program locally more than 91% of the time.