In its 11th game of the season for NFL Network, Thursday Night Football performed rather decently in the ratings. In a record-setting season, NFL Network says New Orleans-Atlanta was the most watched program on cable garnering 7.1 million viewers. The game received a 4.4 rating, up 21% from last year’s Week 13 game. And the viewership was up 19% from 2011.
NFL Network says thus far, Thursday Night Football is averaging a 4.1 rating with a viewership of 6.4 million. That’s due to Time Warner Cable and Cablevision signing up for NFL Network this season, expanding the viewership across the country.
Here’s the NFL Network press release discussing the ratings on Thursday.
THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL’S SAINTS-FALCONS TOPS SEVEN MILLION VIEWERS; CONTINUES RECORD PACE
Ratings up 21% vs. Week 13 in 2011
Ranks as Thursday’s No. 1 Show on CableNFL Network’s Thursday Night Football broadcast of the Saints-Falcons game was watched by an average of 7.1 million viewers (not including over-the-air stations in New Orleans and Atlanta) making it the most-watched program overall on cable TV for Thursday, Nov. 29.
The Saints-Falcons game delivered the highest Thursday Night Football audience since September 27th (Cleveland at Baltimore – 8.1 million viewers) and is the third most-watched of NFL Network’s expanded 13-game schedule in 2012. Compared to NFL Network’s Thursday Night Football game in Week 13 of 2011, the rating (4.4) for the Saints-Falcons game is up +21% and viewers +19%. (Philadelphia at Seattle 12/1/11 – 3.6 US HH rating / 5.9 million viewers)
Through 11 games, Thursday Night Football is averaging a 4.1 US HH rating and 6.4 million viewers on pace to be the highest-rated and most-watched Thursday Night Football season ever.
Thursday Night Football continues next week with one of the NFL’s fiercest rivalries when four-time NFL MVP Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos visit the Oakland Raiders on Dec. 6 at 8:00 PM ET.
And that will do it.
