NFL TOPS ON TV THANKSGIVING WEEKEND
Patriots-Saints on ESPN 2nd Most-Watched Show in Cable History
Raiders-Cowboys Thanksgiving Game on CBS Week’s Most-Watched Show
Giants-Broncos Draws NFL Network Thanksgiving Record
The Thanksgiving tradition of family, food and football continued this past weekend as fans tuned into NFL games in large numbers.
Patriots-Saints on ESPN Monday night drew the second largest audience in cable history with 21.4 million viewers. Cable’s four largest audiences of all-time are ESPN Monday Night Football games. The cable record was set earlier this season with 21.8 million fans tuning in for Packers-Vikings on Oct. 5.
The CBS Thanksgiving game (Raiders-Cowboys) was the most-watched program on television last week (Nov. 23-29) with 25.2 million viewers. The FOX doubleheader game (mostly Bears-Vikings) was watched by 23.6 million viewers.
The Thanksgiving night Giants-Broncos game on NFL Network was watched by 6.1 million viewers (not including over-the-air markets), ranking as NFL Network’s most-watched Thanksgiving game and the second-most watched game in the four years of Thursday Night Football (Green Bay-Dallas, Nov. 29, 2007, 10.1 million viewers).
NFL games topped the local ratings in 26 NFL markets last week.
Following are the NFL markets where football was the top-rated program for the week of Nov. 23-29:
| Week of 11/23-29 |
|
HH |
HH |
RTG |
|
| Market | Game |
Date |
RTG |
SHR |
Rank |
| Pittsburgh | Steelers at Ravens |
11/29/09 |
49.0 |
66 |
1 |
| Minneapolis | Bears at Vikings |
11/29/09 |
45.0 |
72 |
1 |
| Cincinnati | Browns at Bengals |
11/29/09 |
40.4 |
68 |
1 |
| Nashville * | Titans at Texans |
11/23/09 |
36.8 |
50 |
1 |
| Baltimore | Steelers at Ravens |
11/29/09 |
36.2 |
52 |
1 |
| Indianapolis | Colts at Texans |
11/29/09 |
35.6 |
60 |
1 |
| San Diego | Chiefs at Chargers |
11/29/09 |
30.8 |
58 |
1 |
| Milwaukee | Packers at Lions |
11/26/09 |
28.8 |
62 |
1 |
| Denver ** | Giants at Broncos |
11/26/09 |
28.5 |
57 |
1 |
| Buffalo | Dolphins at Bills |
11/29/09 |
28.1 |
51 |
1 |
| Phoenix | Cardinals at Titans |
11/29/09 |
27.4 |
48 |
1 |
| Kansas City | Chiefs at Chargers |
11/29/09 |
27.3 |
45 |
1 |
| Chicago | Bears at Vikings |
11/29/09 |
26.9 |
47 |
1 |
| Dallas | Raiders at Cowboys |
11/26/09 |
26.8 |
65 |
1 |
| Philadelphia | Redskins at Eagles |
11/29/09 |
25.3 |
48 |
1 |
| Houston * | Titans at Texans |
11/23/09 |
25.2 |
38 |
1 |
| Washington, DC | Redskins at Eagles |
11/29/09 |
24.2 |
54 |
1 |
| New Orleans | Bears at Vikings |
11/29/09 |
23.6 |
35 |
1 |
| Tampa | Buccaneers at Falcons |
11/29/09 |
23.4 |
44 |
1 |
| Detroit | Packers at Lions |
11/26/09 |
21.8 |
48 |
1 |
| Cleveland | Browns at Bengals |
11/29/09 |
21.0 |
43 |
1 |
| Charlotte | Panthers at Jets |
11/29/09 |
20.9 |
40 |
1 |
| Miami | Dolphins at Bills |
11/29/09 |
19.3 |
42 |
1 |
| Seattle | Seahawks at Rams |
11/29/09 |
17.6 |
40 |
1 |
| Boston | Colts at Texans |
11/29/09 |
14.8 |
36 |
1 |
| San Fran-Oakland | Jaguars at 49ers |
11/29/09 |
14.3 |
38 |
1 |
* Local affiliate & ESPN combined
** Local affiliate & NFL Network combined
Source: NFL & Nielsen Media Research
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