The Dallas Cowboys remain an embarrassment of riches for the NFL’s media partners, helping “Thursday Night Football” record its best Week 5 audience.
The latest edition of NFL “Thursday Night Football” (Buccaneers-Cowboys) averaged 16.73 million viewers on Prime Video, including local over-the-air simulcasts in the home markets — officially the largest audience on record for “TNF” in Week 5 of the season. The previous high was 16.54 million for Vikings-Packers on CBS and NFL Network in 2014. (The 2014 game aired before Nielsen began tracking out-of-home viewing and almost certainly would have averaged more viewers under present-day methodology.)
The Cowboys’ loss, which peaked with 18.56 million in the 9 PM ET quarter-hour, increased 11% from 49ers-Rams last year (15.02M). “TNF” has now increased in four-straight weeks to start the season, a first for the series since moving to Prime Video.
Prime is now averaging 17.52 million viewers for “TNF” this season, up 11% from the same point last year (15.78M) and the series’ highest average at this point of the season since 2015, when it aired on CBS and NFL Network. This season’s four games rank among the seven most-watched editions of “TNF” on Prime (dates back to 2022), with Buccaneers-Cowboys placing sixth.
(Keep in mind that some games from past seasons would have ranked higher under Nielsen’s current “Big Data + Panel” methodology. Cowboys-Giants in 2024 officially averaged 16.22 million under the panel-only methodology that was Nielsen currency at the time, but the corresponding “Big Data” figure — which Amazon circulated at the time — was 17.61 million, surpassing all-but-one of this year’s games.)
In a rarity, the Cowboys’ annual “TNF” appearance did not generate a season-high audience, trailing both Lions-Bills in Week 2 (18.95M) and Falcons-Packers in Week 3 (16.83M). The previous three Cowboys games on “TNF” — against the Lions last season (19.39M), Giants in 2024 (16.22M) and Seahawks in 2023 (15.26M) — were not only season-highs at the time, but the most-watched regular season games ever on the streamer to that point.
