A low bar last year gave Thursday Night Football a modest bump in the ratings.
FOX and NFL Network earned a combined 7.5 rating and 12.05 million viewers for the Week 8 Dolphins-Texans Thursday Night Football game, up 7% in ratings and 6% in viewership from last year (Dolphins-Ravens: 7.0, 11.4M), but down 13% and 15% respectively from the fifth TNF simulcast in 2016 (Bears-Packers: 8.6, 14.2M).
The Texans’ win was just the third of seven TNF simulcasts this season to post an increase in ratings and/or viewership. Keep in mind last year’s game ranks among the five lowest rated and least-watched NFL games on primetime broadcast television.
Despite the increase, this year’s numbers were also historically low. Dolphins-Texans tied the seventh-lowest NFL rating on primetime broadcast television and the ninth-smallest audience.
Including streaming and Spanish-language viewership, the game had a combined 12.5 million viewers (+7%).
TNF scored a 3.6 rating in adults 18-49, up 6% from last year (3.4) but down 20% from the fifth simulcast in ’16 (4.5). Ratings also increased in adults 18-34 (2.7, +4%) and adults 25-54 (4.4, +5%).
Notably, TNF did better in all three demos than the World Series game on FOX the previous night.
For the night, TNF took top honors in the key demos but ranked second in viewership behind “The Big Bang Theory” on CBS (12.99M).
[Numbers from NFL Communications 10.26, ShowBuzz Daily 10.26]
