The AFC South continues to be a lackluster television draw, sinking Thursday Night Football ratings to a season-low on FOX.
Thursday Night Football (Colts-Texans) averaged a 7.9 rating and 12.92 million viewers on FOX and NFL Network last night, marking the lowest rated and least-watched Thursday night game on FOX this season. The eight previous windows each exceeded an 8.0 and 13 million.
Ratings declined 37% and viewership 39% from the ninth TNF game on FOX last season, Saints-Cowboys in Week 13 (12.5, 21.32M). Last year’s Week 12 Thursday night game was a Falcons-Saints Thanksgiving special on NBC (10.1, 21.70M).
Those comparisons come with obvious caveats. The Cowboys’ annual TNF appearance is usually the highest rated of the package, and the Thanksgiving night game is also an outsized draw.
Keeping that in mind, the past three Thursday night games have declined from last year, a marked reversal after the previous six each increased.
TNF averaged a 3.8 rating in adults 18-49, down 41% from Saints-Cowboys last year. It also averaged a 2.5 in adults 18-34 (-49%). Both were season-lows for TNF on FOX. As usual, TNF dominated the rest of television in viewership and the key demos.
Streaming figures were not immediately available.
[Nielsen estimates from Programming Insider 11.22]
