The NFL Remains King of TV Despite Thursday Decline

The NFL was the dominant player on American television during the first half of the 2022 season — even if “Thursday Night Football” streaming depressed overall viewership. 

Through Week 9, NFL games averaged 16.2 million viewers. That’s down 4% from 16.8 million viewers at the same point last season, but the third-highest since 2015.

Since the kickoff of the new season on Sept. 8, game telecasts have accounted for the top 38 TV shows — and 47 of the top 50 shows, and 159 million people have watched games.

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The league will likely have to accept the Thursday speed bump under a $1 billion per-year rights deal with Amazon Prime Video that runs through 2033.

• Through eight games, Amazon averaged 10.01 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research.
• That’s down 21% from TNF’s “Tricast” across Fox Sports, NFL Network, and Amazon last season which averaged 12.65 million viewers. 

While TNF numbers are down, the NFL is pleased about Amazon’s ability to capture hard-to-reach younger sports fans with TNF.

The giant streamer has boosted viewership among the advertiser-coveted 18-34-year-old and 18-49-year-old audiences by 24% and 5%, respectively.

Hans Schroeder, executive vice president and chief operating officer of NFL media, recently noted the average TNF viewer was 46 years old vs. 54 for game telecasts on the league’s broadcast partners. 

That “absolutely” disproves the notion sports leagues can’t reach younger viewers. Especially via streaming platforms.

“We all want to make sure we’re getting in front of all our fans — particularly our younger fans who will be the bigger fans of tomorrow on the screens where they are watching,” Schroeder said. 

“To me what Amazon and the partnership of Thursday Night has shown is that those fans are there, they want to watch sports and the future of sports as the continued media world evolves is a very good one. Both for the NFL and more broadly. Because our sports fans are on those different digital platforms.”

The league’s Week 10 kicks off Thursday night with Amazon’s TNF coverage of the Atlanta Falcons vs. Carolina Panthers.