CBS and NFL Network combined for a 13.7 overnight rating for the first “Thursday Night Football” telecast of the season featuring Steelers-Ravens, which also was CBS’ first Thursday NFL telecast under a one-year agreement. Last year’s “TNF” opener on NFL Network, which featured Jets-Patriots, drew a 6.6 overnight. The debut of “TNF” delivered CBS its highest-rated Thursday in primetime (8:00-11:00pm ET) since May '06, when the net aired first-run episodes of “CSI:” and “Without A Trace.” Steelers-Ravens peaked at a 14.6 combined rating from 9:00-9:30pm (THE DAILY). In Chicago, Ed Sherman notes with the Ray Rice story serving as a backdrop to the game, it is "hard to determine how much [that] impacted the rating." Sherman: "Clearly there was considerable interest with Baltimore playing its first game since it released Rice" (CHICAGOTRIBUNE.com, 9/12). VARIETY's Rick Kissell writes while the number "may have been boosted by the maelstrom" surrounding Rice, it "also likely was dinged a bit by the lopsided result." The Ravens "dominated the second half and put the game away with three fourth-quarter field goals" (VARIETY.com, 9/12). ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY's James Hibberd notes the ratings suggests the "next several weeks could get ugly as rivals try to launch their fall shows (which is, of course, part of the point) (EW.com, 9/12).
NETWORK EXECS ANONYMOUSLY WEIGH IN: In N.Y., Bob Raissman writes in a "very perverse" way, the Rice story has "actually expanded the NFL's audience." Raissman cited one network exec as saying, "I don’t think it’s damaged the product at all. If you look at it through another lens, it has made more people aware of the NFL. It may have actually raised the league’s ‘Q rating’, which is about awareness on some level." Raissman writes while praising NFL Commissioner Roget Goodell, some are "still not thrilled about how the Rice case is being handled." A different network exec said, "I don’t think Roger and other NFL executives had any idea how serious this (the Rice situation) would play in the ‘outside’ world. And I would not be surprised at all if the commissioner did not see the video. Those guys on Park Ave. (in the NFL office) are living in a bubble and trying to please their boss. There is such group-think there. They are all rationalizing to each other and protecting Roger" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 9/12).
MEDIA MADHOUSE: In DC, Kent Babb writes the Ravens long before kickoff had "credentialed 700 members of the media, some of the increased presence attributed to the massive crew that travels from one stadium to the next to broadcast a game on prime time." But that "hardly explained it all, especially considering about 300 attended the home opener Sunday" against the Bengals (WASHINGTON POST, 9/12).
