Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

NFL Network’s Thursday night ratings are up over last year

Los Angeles Rams vs San Francisco 49ers

SANTA CLARA, CA - SEPTEMBER 21: Pierre Garcon #15 of the San Francisco 49ers makes a catch against the Los Angeles Rams during their NFL game at Levi’s Stadium on September 21, 2017 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

Getty Images

The NFL’s television ratings have been a mixed bag early this season, but the league-owned network is getting good news.

For the second week in a row, NFL Network’s Thursday Night Football ratings are up significantly from NFL Network’s games last season: Last night’s Rams-49ers game had 7.4 million viewers, while last week’s Texans-Bengals game had 8.1 million viewers. Last year, the four Thursday night games that were only on NFL Network averaged 6.1 million viewers.

NFL Network is also getting strong ratings for its programming around Thursday Night Football. Last Thursday the five-most shows on cable TV were the Thursday night game, the two NFL Network programs airing after the game and the two NFL Network programs airing before the game.

Two games aren’t enough to draw any sweeping conclusions about Thursday Night Football, but after perhaps the most entertaining Thursday night game ever, the league has to think Thursdays are heading in the right direction.