The addition of CBS nearly doubled ratings and viewership for Thursday Night Football, but the series was still no match for Sunday Night Football on NBC.
The seven Thursday Night Football games on CBS and NFL Network averaged a 10.3 rating and 16.5 million viewers, nearly double last year on NFL Network and local affiliates, and on pace to shatter the TNF record of 4.4 and 7.1 million set last year. Versus the other primetime NFL package on broadcast, however, that record pace is below average.
NBC’s Sunday Night Football is averaging 22.1 million viewers so far this season, 34% higher than Thursday Night Football. The season’s least-watched SNF telecast, Giants/Eagles in Week 6 (18.1M), topped five of the seven TNF games. SNF has outdrawn TNF each week since the latter debuted in Week 2, though that streak should end this week thanks to strong numbers for Chargers/Broncos Thursday night and competition from the World Series Sunday night.
Going back further, only twice since moving to NBC in 2006 has Sunday Night Football averaged 16.5 million or fewer viewers at this point of the season — 2007 (16.1M) and 2008 (15.9M). Not since that 2008 season has SNF averaged fewer than 19.0 million through Week 8.
Prior to the start of the season, indications were that CBS expected Thursday Night Football to perform close to SNF levels. The network reportedly guaranteed advertisers a 12.3 average rating, slightly below the 12.8 SNF averaged last year. Only two of the seven games were able to meet or exceed that guarantee, the Ravens/Steelers opener (12.7) and the Chargers/Broncos finale (12.3).
The ad rates were $600,000 for a 30-second spot, falling between SNF ($700K) and Monday Night Football on ESPN ($500K). TNF viewership ended up closer to Monday night on ESPN (13.3M) than Sunday night on NBC.
None of that is to suggest Thursday Night Football‘s move to broadcast was a failure. CBS generated big increases over its comparable programming last year, the NFL strengthened what had been its weakest primetime window, and the advertisers presumably got close to their money’s worth. Though the quality of the games and the risk to injury give fans and players a legitimate grievance, one is unlikely to hear many complaints among league, network and advertising executives. There will almost certainly be intense interest among each of the other networks in picking up rights for next season — should they be made available.
Still, there is work to be done before Thursday Night Football can begin to challenge its Sunday equivalent.
(Season avg. from CBS Press Express; additional info from MediaPost, Sports Business Journal)
