‘Thursday Night Football’ Ratings Gain Yards With Seahawks-Packers; ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Fall Finale Hits Season High
The Seattle Seahawks’ fourth-quarter rally helped them beat the Green Bay Packers 27-24 on Thursday Night Football last night in a rematch of their epic 2015 NFC Championship Game. The result kept the Seahawks’ playoff chances intact, while severely denting Aaron Rodgers’ team’s postseason aspirations.
A main beneficiary though was Fox, which drew an 11.1 household rating in Nielsen’s metered markets for the game and is projected to top all Big 4 and CW competition Thursday in primetime in total viewers and adults 18-49 with the most-watched TNF of the season. It likely will also be the network’s most watched Thursday telecast in at least five years; as always, early numbers for live sports will see adjustments in the finals.
The game’s rating beat all other broadcast fare Thursday, though CBS’ The Big Bang Theory (2.3 adults 18-49 rating, 12.27 million viewers) topped it in viewers in the 8 PM slot. Young Sheldon (1.8, 10.75M) followed at 8:30 for CBS; both comedies were even with last week. CBS finished second overall on the night in both viewers and the demo.
ABC, which was No. 3 overall on the night in viewers and the demo with a string of Shondaland fall finales, was led by Grey’s Anatomy (1.7, 7.27M), up a tenth to the best crowd of the season as it enters its winter hiatus. Station 19 (1.2, 5.91M) and How To Get Away With Murder (0.8, 3.15M) were up two tenths and a tenth, respectively.
Superstore (0.9, 3.3M), The Good Place (0.8/2.7M) and I Feel Bad (0.5, 1.9M) paced NBC, all even with their week-ago numbers. Will & Grace (0.7, 2.93M) and Law & Order: SVU (0.8, 3.99M) both touched series lows.
On the CW, Supernatural (0.4, 1.44M) gained a tenth while Legacies (0.3, 1.07M) was even.
Meanwhile, about that Seahawks-Packers number: Thursday was up from last week’s 10.5/18, that for the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 52-21 victory over the Carolina Panthers. That game had been up 28% from the previous week, with football ratings climbing as the weather cools and eyes begin turning to the NFL postseason picture.
Last night’s game was also up 27% over last year’s comparable Week 12 TNF, a 9.4/16 metered market result for Tennessee-Pittsburgh on NBC.
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