The first NBC-produced Thursday Night Football game was just the latest primetime NFL game to sink from last year.
The Week 9 Falcons/Buccaneers Thursday Night Football game had a 3.6 final rating and 5.8 million viewers on NFL Network, down 35% in ratings and 34% in viewership from Browns/Bengals last year (5.5, 8.8M) and down 14% and 15%, respectively, from Saints/Panthers in 2014 (4.2, 6.9M).
The Falcons’ win delivered the third-lowest rating and viewership of the NFL season, ahead of only Jaguars/Titans the previous week (3.2, 5.1M) and the Giants/Rams London game in Week 7 (2.4, 3.7M).
More important than the actual number, which was always going to be low on NFL Network, is the continued slide from last season. Thursday’s game was the 25th of 26 primetime NFL telecasts to post a year-over-year decline. Of those 25, each has hit a multi-year low in ratings and all-but-one has done so in viewership. The only primetime game all season to post an increase over last year was Texans/Patriots on TNF in Week 3.
A whopping 15 of the 26 primetime games have declined double-digits from both last year and 2014.
The NFL tied Grey’s Anatomy on ABC as the night’s second-highest rated show in adults 18-49 (2.1), behind the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory (3.1). The 2.1 marks a 32% decline from last year (3.1) and a more modest 9% drop from 2014 (2.3). TNF topped the night’s other major sporting event, the Thunder/Warriors NBA game on TNT, in ratings (3.6 to 2.2), viewership (5.8M to 3.8M) and adults 18-49 (2.1 to 1.7) — but the NBA came out ahead in adults 18-34 (1.9 to 1.6).
(Thu. numbers via Programming Insider 11/4, ShowBuzz Daily 11/4)
