Highly rated prime-time NFL games could grab more
room on Thursday nights.
The NFL is looking to
start up another Thursday night series of games, reports indicate -- either to be aired on a traditional network or through a digital/online company such as Netflix. The initial report came from
The Wall Street Journal.
All this is an effort to pull away more TV advertising dollars,
according to some TV program analysts.
Bolstering such talk comes in the wake of higher demand from NFL Network’s “Thursday Night Football” games from viewers.
Through five games of this season, the series has averaged some 8.1 million viewers, up 28% from a year ago.
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Still, one executive told The Wall Street Journal the
NFL is disappointed that the Thursday night games on NFL Network haven't had better ratings.
The NFL Network is
airing the second season of 13 games on Thursday night. The NFL Network has grown nearly 20% to some 72 million U.S. TV
subscribers.
Estimates are that NFL Network currently pulls in about $200.7 million in advertising revenue and $773.5 million in affiliate revenue per year, according
to SNL Kagan.