The NFL’s annual holiday tripleheader delivered small gains in the afternoon and a big plunge in primetime.
The Week 12 Washington/Dallas NFL Thanksgiving special had a 15.6 overnight rating on FOX Thursday afternoon, up 2% from Panthers/Cowboys on CBS last year (15.3) and up 4% from Eagles/Cowboys on FOX in 2014 (15.0).
The 15.6 is the highest for an NFL Thanksgiving Day game since Packers/Lions on FOX in 2011 (15.8). In the fast-nationals, the Cowboys’ win was the most-watched NFL regular season telecast on any network since 1995 with 35.1 million viewers.
Earlier in the day, Vikings/Lions scored a 14.4 overnight on CBS — up 4% from Eagles/Lions on FOX last year (13.8) but down 6% from Bears/Lions on CBS in 2014 (15.3).
While the appetizer and main course held up well, few wanted to touch a sour dessert. The Steelers/Colts nightcap had a 10.8 overnight on NBC, down 26% from Bears/Packers last year (14.6), down 14% from Seahawks/49ers in 2014 (12.5), and the NFL’s lowest overnight on Thanksgiving since 49ers/Ravens in 2011 (6.0) — the last time a Thanksgiving game aired on NFL Network.
If low by holiday standards, it was still the NFL’s highest Thursday night overnight since Texans/Patriots in Week 3 (12.5).
(Thu. numbers via Fox Sports PR/Twitter 11/25a, 11/25b, CBS Sports PR/Twitter 11/25, NBC Sports PR/Twitter 11/25)
