I don’t have much to say about the Colts’ 34-17 win over the Titans on Thursday Night Football in Week 10. Trailing at the half, Indianapolis scored three touchdowns in a nine-minute period in the second half, and Tennessee was unable to put a point on the board after the second quarter.
The game drew 12.162 million viewers between Fox and NFL Network, per ShowBuzz Daily, giving it both a win on the evening and decline from last year (which has been par for the course this season for TNF). That’s a 10% drop from last year, when Chargers-Raiders drew 13.52 million on the two networks.
Overall, this is the fourth straight week of declines for TNF (Weeks 7-9 all dropped between 6% and 26%) on Fox and NFL Network. There was no Thursday night game in Week 6 after Bills-Chiefs was shifted to Monday, and Week 5 (the first joint Fox/NFLN TNF game of the year) was the one matchup airing on both networks to increase. Week 2’s TNF game, airing only on NFL Network, was also up from 2019.
Week 11’s TNF matchup has tough competition on paper. The Cardinals-Seahawks game is a rematch of their instant classic from Sunday Night Football earlier this year, but last season, Browns-Steelers in Week 11’s TNF game drew 15.4 million viewers. That’s a strong Thursday night number, and one that no TNF game this season has matched.
[Data via ShowBuzz Daily, Sports Media Watch]