The traditional Thanksgiving Day NFL games earned the league’s largest television audiences of the season.
The Week 12 Dolphins/Cowboys Thanksgiving Day game earned a 14.3 final rating and 30.901 million viewers on CBS, up 3% in ratings and down 3% in viewership from last year’s late game (NO/DAL: 13.9, 31.874M, FOX), and up 23% in both measures compared to the late game in 2009 (OAK/DAL: 11.6, 25.207M).
The Dolphins’ win ranks as the most-viewed NFL telecast of the season on any network, and the most-viewed Thanksgiving Day game on CBS since the network reacquired rights to the league for the 1998-99 season.
Earlier in the day, the Packers/Lions Thanksgiving Day game drew a 14.8 and 30.171 million on FOX, up 10% in ratings and 9% in viewership from last year’s early game (NE/DET: 13.4, 27.753M, CBS), and up 33% and 37%, respectively, from 2009 (GB/DET: 11.1, 21.990M).
The Packers’ win ranks as the second-most viewed NFL game of the season.
(Numbers from Media Life Magazine, with assistance from Jason Clinkscales; additional information from NFL press release via Fang’s Bites)
