The Jaguars are a weak draw during the regular season, much less the preseason.
Thursday’s Buccaneers-Jaguars NFL preseason game earned a 1.6 rating and 2.6 million viewers on ESPN, marking the lowest rated preseason game on national television — excluding NFL Network — since a tape-delayed Falcons-Colts matchup on ESPN in 2005 (1.5).
Outside of that anomalous telecast, it was the lowest rated preseason game since Jets-Colts on ESPN in 2004 (1.3).
In addition to the ratings low, Tampa Bay’s win was the least-watched preseason game on national TV — again excluding NFL Network — in at least a decade. The previous low was 2.8 million for another Jacksonville game, against Washington on NBC in 2008 (2.8M).
Compared to ESPN’s lone preseason game last year, Cowboys-Rams on a Saturday night opposite the Olympics, ratings and viewership fell 20% from a 2.0 and 3.2 million.
[Thu. numbers from Programming Insider 8.18]
