CBS and NFL Network’s broadcast of THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL on Thursday, Sept. 18, which featured Atlanta’s lopsided 56-14 victory over Tampa Bay, gave CBS and NFL Network a dominant primetime win. Last night’s programming on CBS and NFL Network in primetime from 8:00-11:00 PM, ET averaged 11.8 million viewers, which beat the combined delivery of the other broadcast networks, NBC, ABC and FOX, by +15% (11.8 million vs. 10.3 million).

Atlanta’s 42-point victory over Tampa Bay, which saw the Falcons jump out to a 35-0 halftime lead, registered as the largest point differential ever for an NFL Network Thursday night game. The game was seen by an average of 11.9 million viewers (Live + Same Day), +7% from last year’s comparable viewing average of 11.1 million (for Kansas City-Philadelphia; 9/19/13) on NFL Network and over-the-air-stations within the two team markets.

Last night’s programming on CBS and NFL Network in primetime from 8:00-11:00 PM, ET averaged 11.8 million viewers,which also was +74% higher in viewer average from last year’s 6.8 million. CBS’s primetime programs on Sept. 19, 2013 were rebroadcasts of THE BIG BANG THEORY (8:00 PM), TWO AND A HALF MEN (8:31 PM), THE BIG BANG THEORY (9:01 PM), TWO AND A HALF MEN (9:31 PM) and ELEMENTARY (10:01 PM).  

Last night’s game earned an average national household rating/share of 7.5/13 (Live + Same Day), +7% higher from last year’s comparable game rating/share of 7.0/12 for Kansas City-Philadelphia, which was the highest-rated game ever on NFL Network and over-the-air-stations within the two team markets.

From 8:00-11:00 PM, ET the CBS/NFL Network broadcast averaged a national HH rating/share of 7.5/13, which is +67% higher than last year’s 4.5/7 for CBS primetime programming.

The household rating/share and viewer average peaked at 8.8/15 with 14.0 million viewers, respectively, from 9:00-9:30 PM, ET.

THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL will continue next week on Sept. 25 with the N.Y. Giants at Washington.

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CBS Sports Contacts: Jen Sabatelle  917/576-2435  jsabatelle@cbs.com

                                    Jerry Caraccioli 917/312-4940  gwcaraccioli@cbs.com

                                    Dan Sabreen  202/321-4195  dsabreen@cbs.com

NFL Network:              Alex Riethmiller 954/599-4154  alex.riethmiller@nfl.com