There’s not much to read into the results, but the Buccaneers and Titans began their new eras going in opposite directions.
Friday’s Titans/Falcons NFL preseason game drew a 15.6 rating on Nashville ABC affiliate WKRN — down 17% from last year’s Packers/Titans preseason opener, according to The Tennessean. It should be noted that the game started at 6 PM local time on a weeknight, while last year’s game started at 7:00 on a Saturday.
Nationally, the game drew 1.4 million viewers on NFL Network — down 3% from Saints/Rams last year (1.42M to 1.37M) and down 25% from Patriots/Eagles in 2013 (1.8M).
Meanwhile, Saturday’s Buccaneers/Vikings game earned a 12.8 on Tampa-St. Petersburg NBC affiliate WFLA — up 19% from last year’s Buccaneers/Jaguars opener, again per The Tennessean. National viewership on NFL Network was not immediately available.
In other preseason action, Friday’s Broncos/Seahawks game drew a 31.8 rating on Seattle FOX affiliate KCPQ — up 30% from the same matchup in last year’s opener (24.5). The game had a national audience of 1.5 million viewers on NFL Network; there was no comparable telecast last year.
Thursday’s Packers/Patriots game had a 28.9 rating on Milwaukee NBC affiliate WTMJ, up 74% from Packers/Titans last year (16.6). It also had a 15.9 on Boston CBS affiliate WBZ, up 15% from last year’s Patriots opener against Washington (13.8). As previously reported, it had 2.5 million viewers on NFL Network.
(Local numbers from The Tennessean, patriots.com, Seattle Times, duanedudek.com)
