An inexplicable primetime appearance by the middling Colts sent Thursday Night Football ratings downward.
FOX and NFL Network earned a combined 8.0 rating and 13.2 million viewers for Colts-Patriots on Thursday Night Football, down 15% in ratings and 14% in viewership from last year (Patriots-Buccaneers: 9.4, 15.4M) and down 25% in both measures from the second TNF simulcast in 2016, which took place in Week 3 (Texans-Patriots: 10.6, 17.5M).
Versus the comparable Week 5 simulcast in 2016 (49ers-Cardinals), ratings increased 8% (from 7.4) and viewership 10% (from 12.1M).
Of the 38 Thursday Night Football simulcasts, all-time, the Patriots’ win tied for 32nd in ratings and ranks 31st in viewership.
Three of the first four TNF games this season have posted a decline in ratings and/or viewership, though that does include a minuscule one percent decline for Vikings-Rams the previous week.
TNF scored a 4.3 rating in adults 18-49, down 15% from last year (5.1) and down 30% from the second simulcast in ’16 (6.1). Ratings also fell 12% in adults 25-54 (from 5.9 to 5.2) and 17% in adults 18-34 (from 4.1 to 3.4).
Despite the declines, Colts-Patriots was easily the night’s top television program in viewership and all the key demographics. On the same night last year, FOX failed to crack 3.5 million viewers or a 1.3 rating in any demo for a line-up of “Gotham” and “The Orville.”
Streaming figures were not immediately available.
[Numbers from Nielsen via Programming Insider 10.5]
