Chargers-Titans No. 1 on cable on Christmas day
Thursday Night Football viewership up 49 percent
Thursday Night Football's 5.5 million viewer average tops all other sports' playoffs on cable
NFL Network wrapped up its fourth season of Thursday Night Football with a record 5.5 million cable viewers tuning in on average -- up 49 percent from last year (3.7 million viewers).
NFL Network's season finale featuring San Diego Chargers-Tennessee Titans last Friday ranked No. 1 as the most-watched cable program on Christmas day with an average of 6.9 million viewers (not including over-the-air stations in San Diego and Nashville) -- topping all daytime and primetime programming and drawing four million viewers more than the second-most watched sporting event on cable that day (Heat-Knicks on ESPN, 2.7 million viewers).
NFL Network's 5.5 million average viewers for Thursday Night Football in 2009 topped by 15 percent the 4.8 million average for the 2009 NBA playoffs on ESPN and TNT and by eight percent the 5.1 million average for the 2009 MLB playoffs on TBS.
In 2009, NFL Network had four of its five most-watched games ever:
- Cowboys-Saints, Dec. 19, 2009 -- 10.5 million viewers
- Packers-Cowboys, Nov. 29, 2007 -- 10.1 million viewers
- Chargers-Titans, Dec. 25, 2009 -- 6.9 million viewers
- Jaguars-Colts, Dec. 17, 2009 -- 6.2 million viewers
- Giants-Broncos, Nov. 26, 2009 -- 6.1 million viewers
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