A snoozer starring a third-string quarterback still generated a multi-year high for Thursday Night Football.
The Week 3 Texans/Patriots Thursday Night Football game had a 10.6 final rating and 17.5 million viewers on CBS and NFL Network, up a tick in ratings and 4% in viewership from Washington/Giants last year (10.5, 16.9M) and up 41% and 48%, respectively, from Buccaneers/Falcons in 2014 (7.5, 11.9M).
The Patriots’ 27-point shutout was the highest rated and most-watched Week 3 edition of TNF (five telecasts dating back to 2012). Regardless of week, it ranks seventh in ratings and sixth in viewership out of the 18 TNF simulcasts on CBS.
For the season, Texans/Patriots was just the fourth game to post a year-over-year increase in ratings and viewership, and the first to do on a network other than FOX.
Figures do not include the digital audience of 398,000 viewers on Twitter and the CBS and NFL mobile platforms — up 27% from Jets/Bills the previous week (314K) and the largest streaming audience of the season for a primetime game (eight windows). On Twitter alone, the game had 327,000 viewers, up 34% from the previous week.
TNF scored a 6.1 rating among adults 18-49, up a tick from last year (6.0) and up 39% from 2014 (4.4).
(Thu. numbers from CBS Sports, ShowBuzz Daily 9/23)
