FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, December 2nd, 2016
COWBOYS-VIKINGS ON NBC, NFL NETWORK & TWITTER IS MOST-WATCHED “THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL” GAME EVER
Down-to-the-Wire NFC Matchup Posts “Total Audience Delivery” Average of 22.2 Million Viewers across All Platforms
TV-Only TNF Viewership of 21.8 Million Viewers on NBC & NFL Network Is Best-Ever For Thursday Night Football
Live Streaming Also Sets TNF Record with 479,000 Average Minute Audience
Cowboys Post Best Local Rating in Dallas in Since Week 4 of Last Season
STAMFORD, Conn. – December 2, 2016 – Last night’s Dallas Cowboys’ 17-15 down-to-the-wire victory over the Minnesota Vikings ranks as the most-watched Thursday Night Football game ever with a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of 22.2 million viewers across all platforms – NBC, NFL Network, NBC Sports Digital, Twitter, and NFL Digital, according to Fast National data released today by The Nielsen Company, and digital data from Adobe Analytics and Twitter.
NBC’s Thursday Night Football last night averaged 21.8 million TV-only viewers – also the best ever for TNF. The previous most-watched TNF game averaged 21.1 million viewers as the Peyton Manning-led Broncos topped the Chiefs 31-24 on Sept. 17, 2015.
TV viewership on NBC and NFL Network peaked at 23.5 million from 10:45-11 p.m. ET. Last night’s game (8:27-11:33 p.m. ET) registered a national household TV rating of 12.8/22.
The Average Minute Audience (AMA) for last night’s live stream via Twitter, NBC Sports Digital, and NFL Digital was 479,000 viewers – also a record for Thursday Night Football.
More than 89 million live minutes of Thursday Night Football were streamed across NBC Sports Digital, NFL Digital, and Twitter – up 50% from Saints-Panthers on Nov. 17.
In total, Twitter reached 3.5 million combined worldwide viewers for pregame coverage and Cowboys-Vikings for a minimum of three seconds with that video being 100% in view. For the Thursday Night Football game alone, Twitter reached 2.9 million viewers. This is the most total viewers for a Thursday Night Football game on Twitter this season (through seven games). The average audience (AMA) watching Thursday Night Football on Twitter properties was 310,000.
The Cowboys, who improved to an NFL-best 11-1 highlighted by rookie QB Dak Prescott’s fourth-quarter TD pass to Dez Bryant, posted a combined 37.3/57 rating on NBC and NFL Network in Dallas – the team’s best local market rating since Week 4 of last season, a stretch of 24 games (37.4/54 for Cowboys-Saints on NBC’s Sunday Night Football, 10/4/15).
Remaining Thursday Night Football game schedule:
| Date | Game | Network |
| Thurs. Dec. 8 | Oakland Raiders at Kansas City Chiefs | NBC, NFLN ** |
| Thurs. Dec. 15 | Los Angeles Rams at Seattle Seahawks | NBC, NFLN ** |
| Sat., Dec. 17 | Miami Dolphins at New York Jets | NFLN |
| Thurs. Dec. 22 | New York Giants at Philadelphia Eagles | NBC, NFLN ** |
| Sat., Dec. 24 | Cincinnati Bengals at Houston Texans | NFLN |
| Sun., Dec. 25 | Baltimore Ravens at Pittsburgh Steelers | NFLN |
** Live streamed on Twitter, NBCSports.com, the NBC Sports app, NFL Mobile from Verizon, Watch NFL Network, and NFL Game Pass (International)
—THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL—
NBC Sports:
Dan Masonson 203-356-2790 dan.masonson@nbcuni.com
NFL Network:
Andrew Howard 310-845-4579 andrew.howard@nfl.com
Twitter:
Brian Poliakoff 415-999-8214 bpoliakoff@twitter.com
