The NFL season has gotten off to a rough start in primetime, with Thursday Night Football ratings the latest to drop. The Week 2 Ravens-Bengals Thursday Night Football game had a 4.2 rating and 7.02 million viewers on NFL Network, down 14% in ratings and 13% in viewership from last year (Texans-Bengals: 4.9, 8.08M). Compared to NFL Network’s first exclusive game in 2016, Dolphins-Bengals in Week 4, ratings fell 13% (from 4.8) and viewership 11% (from 7.90M). Not including over-the-air simulcasts, the Bengals’ win was NFL Network’s least-watched season opener since 2014 — when the network did not make its...
