The Las Vegas Raiders’ 61-23 win over the Los Angeles Chargers during Thursday Night Football was so bad that it cost Brandon Staly his job.
It also didn’t do Prime Video any favors either.
Per Sports Media Watch, the 42-point blowout averaged a 3.9 rating and 7.98 million viewers on Amazon, which makes it the lowest-rated and least-watched TNF game of the season so far.
Those numbers ended up coming in under the Black Friday game between the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins, which averaged a 4.0 rating and 9.61 million viewers. It also garnered a smaller audience than the Week 9 game between the Carolina Panthers and Chicago Bears, which averaged 9.56 million.
SMW also noted that the Raiders-Chargers game delivered the fifth-smallest audience of the 2023 NFL season, defeating only the early morning International Series games on NFL Network.
Don’t feel too bad for Amazon. TNF is still having a very strong 2023 NFL season so far, averaging 12.07 million viewers (up 25% from this point last year). Viewership is also up 17% in the coveted adult 18-49 demo and 14% in the men 18-34 demo.
Al Michaels has certainly had to deal with his fair share of stinkers this season but the overall slate has been better than the initial Prime Video season. Even analyst Kirk Herbstreit admits that the product isn’t quite on the same level as what NFL audiences are used to on the weekends, but the production has been top-notch and Amazon has acquitted itself as a legitimate NFL broadcaster, even if some of the games themselves aren’t worth watching.
About Sean Keeley
Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.