Even with the winless Browns on the schedule, NFL Network attracted one of its largest audiences ever last Thursday night.
The Week 4 Ravens/Browns “Thursday Night Football” game drew a 5.2 U.S. rating and 8.053 million viewers on NFL Network, the fifth-highest rated and fifth-most viewed telecast ever on the network.
Only Bears/Packers in Week 1 (5.3, 8.559M), Packers/Cowboys in 2007 (5.4, 10.054M), Cowboys/Saints in 2009 (5.7, 10.497M), and 49ers/Ravens last Thanksgiving (5.3, 10.681M) drew better numbers.
Thursday’s game was the first on NFL Network since the channel became available to Time Warner Cable subscribers.
Through Week 4, NFL Network has averaged a 5.0 U.S. rating and 7.9 million viewers for live NFL coverage (three telecasts). Last season, NFL Network did not begin live game coverage until Week 10.
(Thursday’s numbers from Bloomberg, Media Life Magazine; season average from NFL Communications)
