Even with the Panthers and Bears sporting a combined 3-14 record, Thursday Night Football scored another sizable ratings jump.
The latest edition of NFL Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime Video — a matchup of the 1-7 Panthers and 2-7 Bears — averaged a 4.6 rating and 9.56 million viewers, up 40% in ratings and 41% in viewership from Falcons-Panthers last year (3.3, 6.80M).
All nine Thursday Night Football games this season have posted a double-digit increase in viewership, with five of the nine up by at least a quarter. The Bears’ win delivered the third-biggest increase, trailing only Titans-Steelers the previous week (+47%) and Broncos-Chiefs in Week 6 (+57%).
Panthers-Bears was still the lowest rated and least-watched TNF game this season, falling below the previous marks of 4.7 and 9.79 million for Jaguars-Saints in Week 7. At the same point last season, four games had averaged a smaller audience, including three below the eight million mark. (The massive year-over-year increase is helped by the fact that last year’s Falcons-Panthers game finished as easily the least-watched of the season.)
TNF is now averaging 12.20 million viewers this season, up 26% from the first nine games last year (9.65M). Viewership is up a more modest 18% in adults 18-49 (5.82M) and 15% in 18-34 (2.57M), resulting in a higher median age this season (48) than the same period last year (46). That is still younger than the other NFL broadcasters (55).
Compared to 2021, when TNF was still primarily simulcast on NFL Network and FOX, viewership is up 20% in 18-49 (5.82M to 4.85M) and 38% in 18-34 (2.57M to 1.86M).
Nielsen is not including Amazon’s internal “first party” data in its viewership estimates for TNF, as was originally planned. Those figures are included in a separate “Integrated Live Streaming Report” that has yet to be accredited by the Media Ratings Council. Using that measure, Thursday’s game averaged 10.40 million viewers and TNF is averaging 13.22 million for the season.
(Nielsen estimates from Amazon Prime PR, Programming Insider 11.10)
