This in from NFL Network. Thanks to the addition of Cablevision and Time Warner Cable this year, Thursday Night Football was accessible to all of the major cable and satellite providers for the very first time. And the series which has been building an audience since signing Comcast a couple of years ago has set a new record for ratings and viewership.
While the quality of games weren’t the best, Thursday Night Football’s expanded 13 game schedule (another record) averaged 7.3 million viewers per telecast and a rating of 4.6. Both numbers include the over the air viewership from the local markets for each game.
Let’s read the NFL Network press release together.
2012 THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL SCHEDULE SETS RATING & VIEWERSHIP RECORDS FOR NFL NETWORK
Expanded 13-game schedule produces most-watched season for Thursday Night Football with an average of 7.3 million viewers
Season rating up 8% vs. 2011 for the #1 Thursday program on cable this FallNFL Network’s expanded schedule of Thursday Night Football broadcasts set rating and viewership records for the network in 2012. Including the audience from over-the-air broadcasts in local markets, Thursday Night Football finished with a record-high per game average audience of 7.3 million viewers in 2012, marking the fourth consecutive year that Thursday Night Football has set an all-time high viewership mark for NFL Network.
For the season, Thursday Night Football on NFL Network averaged a 4.6 US HH rating (including OTA’s), another record for the network. The 4.6 US HH rating represents an 8% increase from the 2011 season. Each week of the 2012 Thursday Night Football schedule, NFL Network’s game telecast was the day’s most-watched program on cable television.
The Thursday Night Football opener in Week Two between the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers delivered the highest Thursday Night Football audience of 2012 with 10.8 million viewers. The Bears-Packers opener is the fourth most-watched Thursday Night Football game in NFL Network’s history with the 2011 Thanksgiving Night game between the San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Ravens still holding the top mark with 12.3 million viewers.
All Thursday Night Football games were streamed live on NFL Mobile with complementary online coverage via NFL.com/LIVE Thursday Night Football.
Thursday Night Football on NFL Network was first broadcast in 2006.
(Source: Nielsen Media Research, Live + Same Day viewing)
That will do it for this post.
