The weekly rankings so far (through Thursday) for cable and broadcast programs. In the official nationals, Thursday’s NFL season kickoff game (Baltimore at Denver) came in at a 10.3 rating with adults 18-49, the #1 show of the week by far at this point and ahead of last year’s 9.7 rating for the similar game (Dallas at NY Giants on Wednesday, September 5). But the 10.3 rating was only slightly higher than the 10.0 fast national rating and did not lift anywhere near as much as normal because of the very late end time (12:25 am ET). When a live sporting event ends near 11 pm ET as normal, all of the Pacific time zone viewing is not counted in the initial fast national rating. But in Thursday’s case, the game ended at 9:25 pm PT so much of the game’s West Coast viewing was already reflected in the fast nationals, reducing the magnitude of the “lift” in the official nationals that we normally see.
About the Author
