‘Thursday Night Football’ Snares 14.6M Viewers, Down Despite Eagles’ Win

With the final numbers now in, the Philadelphia Eagles vs. the Carolina Panthers game saw the City of Brotherly Love team win, the national anthem not shown and CBS and the NFL Network down from last week.

Snagging 14.6 million viewers over the two outlets, the 2017-2018 Week 6 match-up is down 5% from the New England Patriots victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. That is essentially what last night’s game was down from the October 5 TNF in fast affiliates and metered market results earlier today.

Compared to the comparable game of last year, the Eagles 28-23 win over the Panthers was steady with the 14.5 million who tuned in for the Denver Broncos and then San Diego Chargers game of October 13, 2016.

despite a potential move by the NFL to disallow protest by players during the national anthem, one thing you would have not seen on TNF on CBS and the NFL Network last night was the playing of the national anthem.

As the controversy over players taking a knee or raising a fist over social injustice shows no signs of abating, the net and the league took a default position and decided not to show the national anthem or the response in Charlotte last night. As social media went into overdrive in reaction, the TV audience did not see the Panthers all stand for the song, nor the Eagles’ Malcolm Jenkins and Rodney McLeod each raise a fist into the air with teammate Chris Long appear to show solidarity.

Yet, with the Eagles vs. Panthers match-up getting a 10.6/18 in metered market results on CBS and NFL Network, perhaps there was some of the once usual NFL audience who choose not to watch at all.

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