It was not the best of weeks for Thursday Night Football, but ratings and viewership dipped only slightly from last year.
The Week 6 Broncos/Chargers Thursday Night Football game had an 8.7 final rating and 14.5 million viewers on CBS and NFL Network, down 6% in ratings and 2% in viewership from Falcons/Saints last year (9.3, 14.8M) and down 13% and 9%, respectively, from Colts/Texans in 2014 (10.0, 15.9M).
The Chargers’ upset win earned the fourth-lowest rating and viewership for a TNF simulcast on CBS (21 telecasts) — ahead of only Chargers/49ers in December 2014 (8.0, 13.0M), Buccaneers/Falcons in September the same year (7.5, 11.9M), and 49ers/Cardinals a week ago (7.4, 12.1M).
The game was also the lowest rated and least-watched Week 6 edition of TNF since 2013, when NFL Network and local affiliates combined for a 5.9 and 9.4 million for Giants/Bears. Three of the four TNF simulcasts this season have hit multi-year lows in ratings and viewership.
Among adults 18-49, TNF had a 4.7 rating — down 4% from last year’s 4.9 and down 13% from a 5.4 in 2014. Thursday’s digital figures were not immediately available.
(Thu. numbers via Programming Insider 10/14, ShowBuzz Daily 10/14)
