CBS and the NFL's $275 million deal to air eight Thursday Night Football games on both CBS and cable's NFL Network roared to a very auspicious start last night.
Though some of the interest in the game — the Steelers played the Ravens, which fired over Ray Rice in a heated domestic abuse scandal — it was still a huge boon to the NFL's younger Thursday offerings. The game averaged an overnight household rating of 13.7. That's more than double the comparable game that aired on the NFL Network alone last summer, and 99 percent bigger than any Thursday game broadcast in the network's history.
The early rating is a combination of how the game was consumed on both CBS and the NFL Network. The full breakdown for the ratings, including total viewership and how CBS fared among adults 18-49, will be available later today.
For most appropriate football comparison, NBC's Sunday Night Football opener this year pulled a 15.1 overnight rating — roughly 10 percent better than Thursday's showing. Final numbers for that game gave it 23.7 million viewers and a 9.0 rating in the key demographic.
More to come...
