The presence of the Dallas Cowboys helped Thursday Night Football to a near record-high overnight.
The Week 13 Cowboys/Vikings Thursday Night Football game had a 14.1 overnight rating on NBC and NFL Network, up 18% from Packers/Lions on CBS and NFL Network last year (12.0). The comparable Thursday night game in 2014 was Seahawks/49ers on Thanksgiving night, which had a 12.5 on NBC.
The Cowboys’ win delivered the second-highest overnight in the history of Thursday Night Football (dates back to 2006), behind only Broncos/Chiefs in Week 2 of last season (14.3).
The 14.1 is also the fourth-highest for a primetime NFL game this season, behind Patriots/Seahawks in Week 10 (14.3), Patriots/Cardinals in Week 1, and the Panthers/Broncos Kickoff Game (16.5), each of which aired on NBC as part of its Sunday Night Football package.
Dallas-Ft. Worth led all markets with a 37.3 rating, followed by Minneapolis-St. Paul (36.8). Cowboys secondary markets San Antonio (26.5) and Austin (23.7) took the next two spots, with Albuquerque rounding out the top five (22.6).
(Thu. numbers from NBC Sports)
