After a good outing on Thursday, Friday’s NFL preseason ratings sank on NFL Network.
Friday’s Falcons-Jets NFL preseason game earned a 0.9 rating and 1.35 million viewers on NFL Network, down 18% in ratings and 28% in viewership from last year (Steelers-Giants: 1.1, 1.87M) but up 29% and 17% respectively from 2016 opposite the Olympics (Lions-Steelers: 0.7, 1.15M).
Later in the night, Lions-Raiders had a 0.8 and 1.17 million, down a tick in ratings and 15% in viewership from last year (49ers-Chiefs: 0.9, 1.38M) but up a third and 27% from 2016 vs. the Olympics (Raiders-Cardinals: 0.6, 924K).
Through Friday, three of the four preseason games that can be compared to last year have declined. The lone exception thus far was Browns-Giants last Thursday, which increased 11% in ratings and 6% in viewership.
Keep in mind NFL Network’s preseason games are blacked out in the local markets. Ratings for those local broadcasts were not immediately available.
[Numbers from Nielsen via Programming Insider 8.13]
