Thursday Night Football proved to be a decent success in 2014 for CBS and NFL Network. When comparing the 16-game schedule this season to the same period last year, Thursday Night Football saw a 45% overnight ratings increase. The games shown on CBS and NFL Network this year easily surpassed the games from last year which were only shown on NFL Network and over-the-air stations in participating markets.
CBS/NFLN averaged an 8.4 overnight rating for the 16 games in the package this season compared to a 5.8 rating for 13 games in 2013. This includes the two Thursday Night Football: Saturday Editions this week. Eagles-Redskins managed a 6.1 rating on NFL Network while the simulcast of Chargers-49ers garnered an 8.9 rating on CBS and NFLN.
While Thursday Night Football should be proud of their boost in ratings, the numbers aren’t surprising and they can be easily explained. NFL Network, the main source for Thursday Night Football games last season, is only estimated to be available to 72.3 million households. Shifting ahead to the current season, Thursday Night Football also appeared on CBS, a network which is available in almost all American homes.
Simply put, it would have been shocking news had the ratings not increased as much as they did. Thursday Night Football was more accessible to more people and as a result the ratings boomed. Expect to see interest in the Thursday package of games only increase moving forward given what it was able to do this year in its first on network television.
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About David Rogers
Editor for The Comeback and Contributing Editor for Awful Announcing. Lover of hockey, soccer and all things pop culture.