Though down from last year, the Steelers-Browns rivalry still generated one of the better Thursday Night Football ratings this season.
Thursday Night Football (Steelers-Browns) averaged a 9.2 rating and 15.4 million viewers on FOX and NFL Network last night, down 8% in ratings and 9% in viewership from Week 11 last year (Packers-Seahawks: 10.0, 16.9M), but up 12% and 14% respectively from 2017 (Titans-Steelers: 8.2, 13.5M).
Cleveland’s win was the second-straight TNF game to decline from last season, after the previous six each increased.
It still ranks third for the season among Thursday night games, behind only Eagles-Packers in Week 4 (10.5, 17.9M) and Giants-Patriots in Week 6 (9.5, 16.0M).
Including the streaming audience on Amazon Prime, Twitch, Yahoo! Sports and the FOX and NFL digital platforms, the game averaged 16.1 million (-8%). Even after the back-to-back declines, TNF viewership remains up 12% for the season to 15.6 million (including streaming).
It is unlikely that the brawl involving Browns DE Myles Garrett and Steelers QB Mason Rudolph had any meaningful impact on the numbers, having occurred during the final seconds of a long-decided game.
Steelers-Browns averaged a 4.4 rating in adults 18-49 (-12%) and a 3.2 in adults 18-34 (-18%). As usual, TNF dominated the night on television in viewership and the key demos.
[Nielsen estimates from NFL Communications 11.15, ShowBuzz Daily 11.15]
