Posted on 09/17/2018 9:34:36 AM PDT by 11th_VA
The NFL season has gotten off to a rough start in primetime, with Thursday Night Football ratings the latest to drop.
The Week 2 Ravens-Bengals Thursday Night Football game had a 4.2 rating and 7.02 million viewers on NFL Network, down 14% in ratings and 13% in viewership from last year (Texans-Bengals: 4.9, 8.08M). Compared to NFL Network’s first exclusive game in 2016, Dolphins-Bengals in Week 4, ratings fell 13% (from 4.8) and viewership 11% (from 7.90M).
Not including over-the-air simulcasts, the Bengals’ win was NFL Network’s least-watched season opener since 2014 — when the network did not make its season-debut until Week 8 (Saints-Panthers: 6.88M)
All five primetime NFL games this season have declined from last year. The two Thursday night games have posted the steepest declines, with the previous week’s Falcons-Eagles NFL Kickoff also down double-digits. By contrast, all three afternoon windows have increased.
In the key young demographics, Thursday’s ratings declined 15% in adults 18-49 (from 3.1 to 2.6), 16% in adults 18-34 (from 2.4 to 2.05) and 17% in adults 25-54 (from 3.5 to 2.9).
According to Sports Business Journal writer John Ourand, viewership on The Weather Channel Thursday night was up 64 percent from last year due to the landfalling Hurricane Florence.
Looked like Soldier Field was full for MNF.
Those pictures are less populated than a White Sox game.
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