The 49ers manhandled the Seahawks on Thanksgiving night, securing a 31-13 win. That didn’t keep millions of people from watching it.
NBC has announced that it generated its second largest audience for a Thanksgiving night game, with an average audience of 26.3 million. That’s the most since Bears-Packers in 2015 drew 27.8 million on the fourth Thursday night in November.
Last year’s game between the Patriots and Vikings was far more competitive; it drew 26 million viewers.
The number includes 1.6 million viewers via streaming, a Thanksgiving night record.
The bottom line is that football continues to deliver a massive live audience like nothing else. And it will continue to do so, whether on TV or streaming or whatever technology is lurking — including perhaps having the games broadcast through our vaccine microchips and displayed directly inside our eyeballs.
