Surely one of the big takeaways from last night’s return ofThursday Night Football to NBC will be the likely end of Richard Sherman’s season this year.
On a night that began with a tribute to veterans and no protests by players on either team, the Seattle Seahawks beat the Arizona Cardinals 22-16. However, the Emerald City quarterback took a number of hits on the field in Glendale in the Copper State and eventually exited the Week 10 game in the third quarter with what was later revealed to be a ruptured Achilles tendon.
Thank you for all of the thoughts and prayers! l will do everything in my Power to come back faster and stronger than ever. Until then l will be here to cheer my teammates on! l sincerely appreciate the outpouring of support! Means a lot to me.
— Richard Sherman (@RSherman_25) November 10, 2017
With that, the first regular TNF on NBC and the NFL Network after several weeks on CBS earlier this season scored a 9.4/16 in metered market ratings.
Last night’s much more compelling match-up was up 12% from the TNF season low of the Baltimore Ravens 40-0 shutout over the Miami Dolphins on October 26. That game was the last of the House of Moonves’ primetime NFL package in a season of controversies and struggling ratings. It should be noted that the exceptional Sherman himself has proven no fan of TNF. The QB has called the near mid-week often perceived as draining game a “poopfest” and this week called it “terrible” in an interview.
That 8:30 – 11:30 PM ET TNF of two weeks ago eventually delivered an audience of 11.36 million and a rating of 3.4/14 among adults 18-49. Last night’s game peaked with a 10.1/17 MM rating in the 9:30–10 PM ET slot.
The first TNF of this season on the Comcast-owned net also saw a dip of 5% from the CBS opener of September 27 in the early numbers. Ending up steady with the 2016 CBS TNF opener, that weather delayed game earlier this fall went on to snag 14.6 million viewers on the net and NFL Network. New to the game, so to speak, live streaming on Amazon Prime saw 488,000 viewers watch the Chicago Bears beat the Green Bay Packers on that late September night.
Year-to-year, last night’s TNF on NBC and NFL Networks had a slight uptick of 1% in MM ratings from the November 17, 2016 debut on the net last year. The first Thursday regular season game on NBC in a new deal with the NFL, the final numbers of that 2016 TNF pulled in 13.3 million viewers as the Carolina Panthers’ bested the New Orleans Saints 23-20.
Yes, that’s a lot of numbers and more are coming as we’ll update with more TNF numbers and everything else that was on the rest of the Big 4 and the CW last night later. Plus, those streaming numbers will come in too from the House of Bezos. However, right now and all this weekend, a salute to veterans here at home and around the world – thank you.
