Less than 24 hours after averaging more than 40 million viewers for a single game, the NFL settled for fewer than ten million in its Black Friday debut.
The first ever NFL game on Black Friday — Jets-Dolphins on Amazon Prime Video — averaged a 4.0 rating and 9.61 million viewers, topping only Panthers-Bears two weeks earlier as the least-watched NFL game on Prime Video this season. Across all networks, it ranks 70th out of the 77 NFL windows on Nielsen-rated television this season.
The Black Friday game still dominated the rest of television on Friday. Iowa-Nebraska topped the college football charts with a 2.3 and 4.39 million in its CBS debut, the largest audience for the annual Black Friday game since 2015 on ABC (6.19M). Oregon State-Oregon ranked second at a 1.9 and 4.12 million on FOX, up from last year’s Saturday afternoon meeting on ABC (3.56M) and the largest audience for the rivalry since 2010 on ABC (6.62M). (The 2011 game technically averaged more viewers, but that aired as part of an ABC regional window.)
Oregon’s win topped a crowded primetime window that also included a 1.8 and 3.77 million for Texas Tech-Texas on ABC and a 1.7 and 3.38 million for Penn State-Michigan State on NBC. The combined audience across the three networks (11.27M) far exceeded last year, when there was only one primetime game on broadcast television — Florida-Florida State on ABC (6.71M).
In other college football action, Missouri-Arkansas scored a 2.1 and 4.09 million on CBS — the largest audience for that annual Black Friday matchup since 2014 (4.4M) — cruising past UTSA-Tulane on ABC at a 0.9 and 1.72 million.
In a rarity, the NBA had a Black Friday doubleheader on ESPN as Spurs-Warriors averaged 1.58 million and Heat-Knicks led in with 1.10 million. Compared to the equivalent night last season, which was not Black Friday, Heat-Knicks declined 18% (vs. Bucks-Sixers: 1.34M) and Spurs-Warriors increased 7% (vs. Knicks-Warriors: 1.47M). The last time the ESPN networks aired NBA games on Black Friday was all the way back in 2010, when ESPN2 averaged 530,000 for Warriors-Grizzlies and 442,000 for Rockets-Bobcats.
Seton Hall-Iowa led the college basketball slate with 775,000 viewers on FOX, pending results for the earlier USC-Oklahoma game. Shifting to hockey, TNT averaged 528,000 for Penguins-Sabres and 406,000 for Avalanche-Wild — up 8 and 22 percent respectively from last year’s Black Friday doubleheader (Penguins-Flyers: 488K; Blues-Lightning: 332K). Rounding out the notable performances, Nebraska-Wisconsin women’s college volleyball drew 507,000 on BTN.
Black Friday sports viewership
