Fast National ratings for Thursday, September 11, 2014.
The premiere of CBS' Thursday Night Football, a sloppy game between the Ravens and Steelers, dominated primetime in all measures, though NBC's “The Biggest Loser” opener still got a decent sampling, albeit far below fall's launch.
CBS is boasting that the Thursday Night Football premiere was the network's best Thursday primetime deliver since 2006 and the broadcast on both CBS and NFL Network more than doubled last year's NFL Network Thursday opener.
Remember, as always, that due to the live nature of the football game, plus the simulcast on NFL Network, these numbers aren't accurately reflective of the actual Pittsburgh-Baltimore ratings for the night.
On to those numbers…
Among adults 18-49, CBS averaged a 5.2 rating for Thursday primetime, far ahead of the 1.4 rating for NBC in the key demographic. FOX's 0.7 key demo rating and the 0.5 key demo rating for ABC followed. The CW did a 0.2 key demo rating for the night.
Overall, CBS averaged an estimated 15.24 million viewers and a 9.4 rating/16 share for Thursday night. NBC was, again, a distant second with 4.97 million viewers and a 3.3/6. FOX's 2.51 million viewers and 1.6/3 edged out the 2.085 million viewers and 1.4/2 for ABC for the night. The CW's 659,000 viewers and 0.4/1 trailed for Thursday primetime.
8 p.m. – Thursday Night Football pregame and kickoff averaged 13.875 million viewers and a 4.3 rating among adults 18-49 for CBS in the 8 p.m. hour. NBC's “Biggest Loser” premiere averaged 5.28 million viewers and a 1.6 key demo rating in second. A “Hell's Kitchen” encore averaged 2.54 million viewers and a 0.8 key demo rating on FOX, ahead of the 2.08 million viewers and 0.5 key demo rating for the first hour of ABC's “The Quest” finale. On The CW, a repeat of “The Vampire Diaries” averaged 735,000 viewers and a 0.3 key demo rating.
9 p.m. – The Steelers-Ravens game continued with an average of 16.855 million viewers and a 5.8 rating among adults 18-49 for CBS in the 9 p.m. hour. NBC's “Biggest Loser” premiere rose to 5.47 million viewers and a 1.7 key demo rating in its second hour. FOX's “Bones” repeat averaged 2.48 million viewers and a 0.6 key demo rating, topping the 1.58 million viewers and 0.4 key demo rating for the conclusion of the “Quest” finale on ABC. The CW's repeat of “The Originals” averaged 583,000 viewers and a 0.2 key demo rating.
10 p.m. – CBS' football coverage closed primetime in first with 14.99 million viewers and a 5.4 rating among adults 18-49. NBC's “Dateline” was second with 4.17 million viewers and a 1.0 key demo rating, topping the 2.6 million viewers and 0.7 key demo rating for ABC's “Shark Tank.”
All ratings information comes from preliminary Fast National Nielsen data, which includes live and same-day DVR viewing. All numbers are subject to change, particularly in the case of live events.