NFL Network’s telecast of Thursday Night Football between the New York Jets and Cleveland Browns, which featured the professional debut of number one pick Baker Mayfield against number three pick Sam Darnold, averaged a 5.2 US HH rating and over 8.6 million overall P2+ viewers ranking as the network’s highest rated and most-watched exclusive Thursday night game since December of 2015 (MIN@ARI, 12/10/15; 5.47 US HH rating / 8.74M P2+ viewers).
Overall, the game was up +17% in US HH rating and up +16% in overall P2+ viewership compared to NFL Network’s Week 3 Thursday Night Football game from 2017 (LAR@SF: 4.4 US HH rating / 7.5M P2+ viewers).
With Cleveland down 14-0, Mayfield entered the game at the end of the first half and ultimately led the Browns to a 21-17 victory. The game peaked at 10.3M viewers during the game’s final six minutes (11:30p-11:36p).
Compared to NFL Network’s seven exclusive Thursday Night Football games in 2017, the Jets-Browns was up +43% in US HH rating and up +41% in overall P2+ viewership (3.6 US HH rating / 6.1M P2+ viewers).
The Jets-Browns game outperformed last week’s Thursday Night Football game by +24% in US HH rating and +22% overall P2+ viewership (BAL@CIN; 4.2 US HH rating / 7.1M P2+ viewers).
The 2018 Thursday Night Football Presented by Bud Light season continues Thursday, September 27 when the Minnesota Vikings visit the Los Angeles Rams. The game will be broadcast on FOX, simulcast on NFL Network, distributed in Spanish on FOX Deportes, and distributed digitally to a global audience on Amazon Prime Video, Twitch, NFL digital properties, FOX Sports digital properties, and Yahoo Sports on mobile devices. Coverage from Los Angeles begins at 6:00 PM ET on NFL Network with NFL GameDay Kickoff.
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