In its second season on Amazon Prime, Thursday Night Football viewership grew by nearly a quarter over last year.
The second season of NFL Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime Video averaged 11.86 million viewers, up 24% from last year (9.58M), though still down from two years ago on FOX and NFL Network (12.9M). Figures do not include Amazon’s Black Friday game (Jets-Dolphins: 9.61M), which is not technically part of the company’s Thursday Night Football package.
Last week’s Jets-Browns season finale averaged a 4.7 rating and 10.29 million, up 5% in ratings and 6% in viewership from Cowboys-Titans last year (4.5, 9.73M). Viewership increased for 14 of 15 TNF windows this season, the lone exception being the Raiders’ Week 15 rout of the Chargers.
Twelve TNF games this season averaged north of ten million viewers, doubling last year’s total (six) — and five games surpassed last year’s high-water mark of 13.03 million for Chargers-Chiefs, Amazon’s inaugural game.
While up nearly a quarter overall, viewership grew at a slower pace in the key young adult demographics of 18-34 (2.40M, +14%) and 18-49 (5.49M, +17%). As a result, TNF finished the season with a median age of 48.5, a year-and-a-half older than last year (47). That is still considerably younger than the median age for other NFL broadcasters (55) or primetime broadcast television (62).
The 18-34 and 18-49 demos accounted for 20 and 46 percent of the TNF audience, respectively — down from last year (22 and 49 percent) but ahead of the other NFL broadcasters (14 and 34 percent) and the rest of primetime television (7 and 21 percent).
Growth in female viewership outpaced the overall average, rising 30% from 2.98 to 3.86 million viewers.
During the offseason, Nielsen announced plans to include Amazon’s first-party internal data into its viewership estimates for Thursday Night Football. The company abandoned those plans under pressure from the networks, but did include the data in a separate “Integrated Live Streaming Report” that is yet to be accredited by the Media Rating Council. By that measure, TNF averaged 12.95 million viewers this season.
Notably, adding Amazon’s internal data lifted the TNF average only by nine percent this season (from 11.86 to 12.95M), compared to 18% last year (from 9.58 to 11.3M). (Amazon released its first-party data independently last season and it was not part of any official Nielsen average.)
