Broadcast of New York Giants vs. Washington Earns Average of 16.3 Million Viewers, Up 96%  

CBS and NFL Network’s broadcast of THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL on Thursday, Sept. 25, which featured the N.Y. Giants’ 45-14 victory over Washington, delivered increases in ratings and viewers.  The game earned an average fast-national household rating/share of 10.2/17, +92% from last year’s 5.3/9, and averaged 16.3 million viewers, +96%from last year’s 8.3 million viewers on NFL Network and over-the-air stations within the two team markets (Sept. 26, 2013: San Francisco-St. Louis).

Through three games of the CBS/NFL Network schedule, THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL is averaging a HH rating/share of 10.0/17, +56% compared to last year’s 6.4/11; and 16.1 million viewers, +59% compared to last year’s 10.1 million – on pace to be the highest-rated and most-watched THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL season ever.

THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL delivered a dominant primetime win for CBS with its biggest premiere Thursday since Sept. 27, 2007.

In primetime, CBS and NFL Network’s THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL broadcast gave CBS its most-watched and highest-rated premiere week Thursday since 2007 (SURVIVOR CHINA, CSI, WITHOUT A TRACE). Compared to Premiere Thursday last year, CBS/NFL Network was +6%in viewers (15.4 million vs. 14.5 million); and +9% in HH rating (9.6 vs. 8.8), including +47%in Adults 18-49 (5.6 vs. 3.8) and +20% in Adults 25-54 (6.1vs. 5.1).

CBS/NFL Network’s HH rating/share of 9.6/16 in primetime beat each of the broadcast networks: +22% better than ABC (7.9/13), +231% better than NBC (2.9/5) and +256% better than FOX (2.7/4).  

CBS/NFL Network’s viewership of 15.4 million in primetime was +29% better than ABC (11.9M), +250% better than NBC (4.4M) and +255% better than FOX (4.3M).     

The household rating/share and viewer average peaked at 11.5/19 and 18.5million viewers, respectively, from 9:30-10:00 PM, ET.

THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL will continue next week on Oct. 2 with Minnesota at Green Bay.

RATINGS NOTE: CBS and NFL Network are reporting audience data for the game and related programming, the way it was sold to advertisers, as a gross rating from CBS and NFL Network.

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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