The surging Saints generated the NFL’s largest primetime Thanksgiving audience in three years.
Thursday’s Falcons-Saints NFL Thanksgiving game earned a 10.1 rating and 21.7 million viewers on NBC, per Nielsen fast-nationals — up 23% in ratings and 28% in viewership from last year (Giants-Washington: 8.2, 16.9M) and flat and up 4% respectively from 2016 (Colts-Steelers: 10.1, 20.9M).
The Saints’ blowout win delivered the NFL’s largest primetime Thanksgiving audience in three years, since Bears-Packers on NBC in 2015 (27.8M).
Overall, it was the third-most watched primetime Thanksgiving game since the NFL expanded the holiday schedule in 2006 (13 telecasts).
Falcons-Saints earned a higher rating and more viewers than all eight Thursday Night Football games on FOX this season. Through Week 12, the two highest rated and most-watched Thursday night games have aired on NBC — the Thanksgiving special and the Falcons-Eagles NFL Kickoff Game (11.2, 19.0M).
Including streaming, the game had 21.9 million.
Thursday’s game was the third-most watched NFL telecast on NBC this season, behind Packers-Patriots in Week 9 (23.7M) and Bears-Packers in Week 1 (22.1M).
New Orleans led all markets with a 52.3 rating and a whopping 75 share (meaning 75% of televisions in use were tuned to the game). Norfolk, Va., was a very distant second at a 17.0. Atlanta ranked third with a 16.7. Buffalo (14.0) and Minneapolis-St. Paul (13.7) rounded out the top five.
[Numbers from NBC Sports]
