Thursday Night Football ratings posted an uptick over the previous week, with local over-the-air simulcasts making up a smaller percentage of the audience.
Dolphins-Bengals averaged a 5.7 rating and 11.72 million viewers on the latest edition of Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime (13.4M including additional data not tracked by Nielsen), a figure that includes 531,000 viewers on local over-the-air affiliates in the home markets. The over-the-air audience was easily the smallest of the season, falling below 1.18 million the previous week and 1.17 million for the season debut in Week 2.
On Amazon alone, the game averaged around 11.19 million — up from the previous week (9.85M) and if still short of the premiere (11.87M).
Viewership for the Bengals’ win jumped 37% from Jaguars-Bengals on NFL Network last year, with the audience rising even higher in the key young adult demographics — 54% in adults 25-54 (from 4.06M to 6.27M), 67% in 18-49 (from 3.59M to 6.00M) and 95% in 18-34 (from 1.41M to 2.75M). So far this season, Amazon’s Thursday night audience is up 100% from last year in 18-34.
Keep in mind the first three Thursday night games last season aired exclusively on NFL Network, with the first FOX simulcast coming in Week 5.
Through Thursday, Amazon now owns three of the nine highest ratings in 18-34 this season (21 total telecasts), more than any other NFL broadcaster.
Highest NFL ratings in A18-34 this season
(Nielsen estimates from Amazon Prime)
