NFL Network Sets Record for Thursday Night Football

Thanks to increased access due to its agreement with Comcast, NFL Network saw increased viewership for its Thursday Night Football slate of 8 live games this season.

RECORD 2009 VIEWERSHIP FOR NFL NETWORK’S THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL

Chargers-Titans No. 1 on Cable on Christmas Day

Thursday Night Football Viewership Up 49 Percent

Thursday Night Football’s 5.5 Million Viewer Avg. Tops All

Other Sports’ Playoffs on Cable

NFL Network wrapped up its fourth season of Thursday Night Football with a record 5.5 million cable viewers tuning in on average – up 49 percent from last year (3.7 million viewers).

NFL Network’s San Diego Chargers-Tennessee Titans season finale last Friday ranked No. 1 as the most-watched cable program on Christmas day with an average of 6.9 million viewers (not including over-the-air stations in San Diego and Nashville) – topping all daytime and primetime programming and drawing four million viewers more than the second-most watched sporting event on cable that day (Heat-Knicks on ESPN, 2.7 million viewers).

NFL Network’s 5.5 million average viewers for Thursday Night Football in 2009 topped by 15 percent the 4.8 million average for the 2009 NBA Playoffs on ESPN and TNT and by eight percent the 5.1 million average for the 2009 MLB Playoffs on TBS.

In 2009, NFL Network had four of its five most-watched games ever:

1. Cowboys-Saints, 12/19/09 – 10.5 million viewers
2. Packers-Cowboys, 11/29/07 – 10.1 million viewers
3. Chargers-Titans, 12/25/09 – 6.9 million viewers
4. Jaguars-Colts, 12/17/09 – 6.2 million viewers
5. Giants-Broncos, 11/26/09 – 6.1 million viewers

As you can see above, NFL Network is happy to point out its games had higher viewership than the NBA playoffs and MLB postseason.