It was a strong matchup on paper — and lived up to its billing — but Vikings-Rams could not budge Thursday Night Football ratings.
Vikings-Rams scored an 8.9 rating and 14.5 million viewers in the season’s first Thursday Night Football simulcast on Fox Sports and NFL Network, flat in ratings and down 1% in viewership from last year (Bears-Packers: 8.9, 14.61M) and down 6% in both measures from the first TNF simulcast in 2016, which took place in Week 2 (Jets-Bills: 9.5, 15.39M). Figures include the Spanish-language audience on Fox Deportes.
Including the streaming audience on Amazon Prime, Fox Sports GO and NFL Digital, the game had 15.1 million viewers — about even with last year.
The final results marked a reversal from the overnight ratings, which increased eight percent.
TNF had a 4.8 rating in adults 18-49, even with last year but down 11% from the first simulcast in 2016 (5.4). On the first Thursday night of the new television season, the NFL annihilated the night’s scripted series, more-than-doubling the second-place season premiere of “The Big Bang Theory” on CBS (2.2). Last year, it won by a narrower margin over the return of NBC’s “Will & Grace” (3.0).
As for the other demos, ratings actually increased in adults 25-54 (from 5.6 to 5.7), but dropped 10% in adults 18-34 (from 4.0 to 3.6).
Thursday’s game was no match for NBC’s Sunday Night Football package, which this season has gone no lower than an 11.2 and 19.0 million for the season-opening Kickoff Game. This past Sunday’s Patriots-Lions game had an 11.5 and 19.5 million.
Even if flat, Thursday Night Football has already proven its worth to FOX. On the comparable night last year, the network topped out at 3.7 million viewers and a 1.1 in adults 18-49 for “The Orville.”
[Numbers from Fox Sports]
