NFL Net's Season Opener Loses Audience From '07; "MNF" Still Up

NFL Net's Broncos-Browns Down In Viewership From '07 Opener

The season premiere of "Thursday Night Football" on NFL Network last Thursday featuring Broncos-Browns earned a 5.1 cable rating and 3.1 million viewers, up 2.0% in ratings, but down 26.8% in viewers from the 5.0 rating and 4.2 million viewers for the net's first regular-season game last season featuring Colts-Falcons on Thanksgiving night. The net's first game in '06 featuring Broncos-Chiefs earned a 6.8 cable rating and 4.2 million viewers on Thanksgiving night (THE DAILY).

SUNDAY NIGHT: NBC is averaging a 10.0 Nielsen rating and 16.2 million viewers through 10 NFL telecasts this season, down 2.0% and 0.7%, respectively, from a 10.2 rating and 16.3 million viewers through 10 telecasts last season. The net earned an 11.0 final rating (17.6 million viewers) for its "Sunday Night Football" coverage of Giants-Eagles, up 1.9% from a 10.8 rating (17.3 million viewers) for the comparable Colts-Chargers game last year (THE DAILY). The HOLLYWOOD REPORTER's James Hibberd writes Giants-Eagles also earned a 6.7 rating in adults 18-49 marking the highest-rated program for the week ending November 9 (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 11/12).

Week	'08 Game	Rating	Viewers (000)	'07 Game	Rating % +/-	Viewers % +/-
NFL Kickoff	Redskins-Giants	8.6	13,531	Saints-Colts	-25.2%	-23.9%
1	Bears-Colts	11.2	18,351	Giants-Cowboys	-3.4%	1.1%
2	Steelers-Browns	10.8	17,834	Chargers-Patriots	10.2%	16.4%
3	Cowboys-Packers	13.3	22,230	Cowboys-Bears	12.7%	16.7%
4	Eagles-Bears	10.8	17,340	Eagles-Giants	14.9%	15.5%
5	Steelers-Jaguars	8.8	14,207	Bears-Packers	-21.4%	-22.3%
6	Patriots-Chargers	8.2	13,051	Saints-Seahawks	15.5%	16.7%
7	Seahawks-Buccaneers	6.3	10,000	Steelers-Broncos	-24.1%	-24.8%
8	NO GAME - WORLD SERIES
9	Patriots-Colts	10.6	16,741	Cowboys-Eagles	3.9%	1.7%
10	Giants-Eagles	11.0	17,564	Colts-Chargers	1.9%	1.4%

JUST ANOTHER MANIC MONDAY: Through 11 games this season, "MNF" is averaging a 9.1 cable rating with 12.3 million viewers, up 7.1% and 12.5%, respectively, from an 8.5 cable rating with 11.0 million viewers through 11 games last season. ESPN earned an 8.9 cable rating (11.9 million viewers) for its "MNF" coverage of 49ers-Cardinals, up 29.0% from a 6.9 rating (9.0 million viewers) for the comparable 49ers-Seahawks game in '07 (THE DAILY).

Week	'08 Game	Cable Rating	Viewers (000)	'07 Game	Rating % +/-	Viewers % +/-
1	Vikings-Packers	9.3	12,501	Ravens-Bengals	8.1%	12.8%
1	Broncos-Raiders	7.3	9,665	Cardinals-49ers	5.8%	13.7%
2	Eagles-Cowboys	13.3	18,608	Redskins-Eagles	46.2%	60.0%
3	Jets-Chargers	8.9	11,881	Titans-Saints	3.5%	10.1%
4	Ravens-Steelers	8.8	11,783	Patriots-Bengals	-1.1%	-0.4%
5	Vikings-Saints	8.3	10,975	Cowboys-Bills	-17.0%	-15.8%
6	Giants-Browns	8.4	11,442	Giants-Falcons	25.4%	34.9%
7	Broncos-Patriots	8.2	10,822	Colts-Jaguars	-13.7%	-13.4%
8	Colts-Titans	8.6	11,604	Packers-Broncos	-18.1%	-17.2%
9	Steelers-Redskins	10.2	14,205	Ravens-Steelers	34.2%	43.7%
10	49ers-Cardinals	8.9	11,870	49ers-Seahawks	29.0%	32.5%