Thursday Night Football got off to its slowest start in eight years, but it has a good excuse.
Buccaneers-Panthers averaged a 4.1 rating and 6.64 million viewers in the season premiere of Thursday Night Football on NFL Network, marking the lowest rated and least-watched TNF opener since 2011, when the series did not debut until Week 10 (Raiders-Chargers: 3.3, 5.28M). Keep in mind the TNF debut was simulcast on broadcast television from 2014-16.
Tampa Bay’s win declined a tick in ratings and 5% in viewership from Ravens-Bengals last year (4.2, 7.02M), and 16% and 18% respectively from Texans-Bengals in 2017 (4.9, 8.08M).
Keep in mind the game was delayed a half-hour due to inclement weather and also faced stronger competition than usual. It aired directly opposite a three-hour Democratic primary debate that averaged 14.04 million viewers across ABC and Univision. By comparison, last year’s toughest competition was a re-run of “The Big Bang Theory” that averaged 6.55 million.
As one would expect, the game crushed the night’s only other major sportscast, a regional Major League Baseball window on FOX (1.2, 1.75M).
TNF averaged a 2.4 rating in adults 18-49, down 8% from last year (2.6) and down 22% from 2017 (3.1). Its 1.7 rating in adults 18-34 was down a sharper 17% from last year (2.05) and 30% from 2017 (2.4).
Thursday’s game was just the second of eight NFL telecast windows this season to decline. The full list of 2019 NFL ratings is available here.
[Nielsen estimates via Programming Insider 9.13]
