NFL Thanksgiving Ratings (1977-present)

Below are the Nielsen ratings for every NFL Thanksgiving game back to 1977. For all games there are 4 metrics available: HH rating, total number of HHs, P18-49 rating, and total viewers. All data prior to 1991 comes from the Nielsen Pocketpieces and as more Pocketpieces are scanned, additional data will be added for older years.

The 1979 Oilers/Cowboys game holds the record for the highest-rated (25.4 HH rating) and most-watched (44.36 million) NFL Thanksgiving game since 1977 (and potentially all-time) while the 2022 Giants/Cowboys game is the most-watched in the Nielsen people-meter era (post-1987) with 42.06 million.

NFL Thankgiving Ratings
Date	Time	Net	HH rating	HHs (millions)	18-49 Rating	Viewers (millions)
Nov. 23, 2023	12:30pm	FOX	11.85	14.818	9.37	33.698
	4:30pm	CBS	11.95	14.932	11.90	41.760
	8:30pm	NBC	9.21	11.513	7.04	24.780
Nov. 24, 2022	12:30pm	CBS	11.84	14.653	8.75	31.783
	4:30pm	FOX	12.66	15.672	12.46	42.059
	8:30pm	NBC	9.68	11.981	7.08	24.777
Nov. 25, 2021	12:30pm	FOX	10.64	13.026	8.01	28.247
	4:30pm	CBS	13.14	16.089	12.18	40.802
	8:30pm	NBC	8.01	9.799	6.24	20.411
Nov. 26, 2020	12:30pm	CBS	10.57	12.785	7.11	24.108
	4:30pm	FOX	12.03	14.559	9.71	31.913
Nov. 28, 2019	12:30pm	FOX	12.26	14.787	7.67	27.093
	4:30pm	CBS	13.53	16.321	9.30	32.643
	8:30pm	NBC	9.91	11.953	6.10	20.808
Nov. 22, 2018	12:30pm	CBS	12.30	14.751	7.58	26.610
	4:30pm	FOX	12.54	15.040	8.99	30.524
	8:30pm	NBC	10.13	12.147	6.59	21.727
Nov. 23, 2017	12:30pm	FOX	11.44	13.676	7.44	24.736
	4:30pm	CBS	11.10	13.280	7.85	26.277
	8:30pm	NBC	8.20	9.812	5.07	16.905
Nov. 24, 2016	12:30pm	CBS	12.97	15.360	8.39	27.611
	4:30pm	FOX	14.53	17.198	11.25	35.110
	8:30pm	NBC	10.05	11.901	6.92	20.882
Nov. 26, 2015	12:30pm	FOX	12.31	14.324	8.15	25.431
	4:30pm	CBS	14.29	16.634	10.31	32.487
	8:30pm	NBC	13.84	16.107	8.97	27.751
Nov. 27, 2014	12:30pm	CBS	14.20	16.524	9.13	29.425
	4:30pm	FOX	14.19	16.514	10.26	32.031
	8:30pm	NBC	11.44	13.317	7.43	22.850
Nov. 28, 2013	12:30pm	FOX	13.4	15.573	9.0	28.343
	4:30pm	CBS	14.3	16.573	10.0	31.675
	8:30pm	NBC	11.0	12.717	6.9	21.113
Nov. 22, 2012	12:30pm	CBS	13.9	15.886	9.3	27.336
	4:30pm	FOX	13.5	15.381	10.1	28.703
	8:30pm	NBC	10.1	11.582	7.1	19.211
Nov. 24, 2011	12:30pm	FOX	14.8	16.994	10.5	30.171
	4:30pm	CBS	14.3	16.440	10.5	30.901
Nov. 25, 2010	12:30pm	CBS	13.4	15.557	9.2	27.753
	4:30pm	FOX	13.9	16.119	10.6	31.874
Nov. 26, 2009	12:30pm	FOX	11.1	12.727	7.4	21.990
	4:30pm	CBS	11.6	13.288	8.7	25.207
Nov. 27, 2008	12:30pm	CBS	9.7	11.059	6.1	18.551
	4:30pm	FOX	10.5	12.030	7.9	22.711
Nov. 22, 2007	12:30pm	FOX	13.2	14.876	8.9	25.324
	4:30pm	CBS	12.0	13.585	9.0	24.978
Nov. 23, 2006	12:30pm	CBS	11.2	12.494	7.5	20.452
	4:30pm	FOX	12.1	13.441	8.6	23.780
Nov. 24, 2005	12:30pm	FOX	11.0	12.130	7.3	20.028
	4:30pm	CBS	13.3	14.688	9.0	26.378
Nov. 25, 2004	12:30pm	CBS	11.6	12.678	7.5	20.937
	4:30pm	FOX	11.3	12.366	8.1	22.654
Nov. 27, 2003	12:30pm	FOX	12.8	13.899	8.6	23.542
	4:30pm	CBS	12.5	13.531	9.1	24.168
Nov. 28, 2002	12:30pm	CBS	11.4	12.134	7.8	20.479
	4:30pm	FOX	11.8	12.581	9.8	24.162
Nov. 22, 2001	12:30pm	FOX	11.7	12.342	7.9	20.751
	4:30pm	CBS	10.9	11.490	8.1	21.311
Nov. 23, 2000	12:30pm	CBS	12.1	12.332	7.9	21.111
	4:30pm	FOX	12.8	13.087	10.2	25.350
Nov. 25, 1999	12:30pm	FOX	13.2	13.294	8.9	22.069
	4:30pm	CBS	16.1	16.248	12.5	32.093
Nov. 26, 1998	12:30pm	CBS	15.6	15.499	11.1	26.660
	4:30pm	FOX	16.5	16.442	14.2	32.681
Nov. 27, 1997	12:30pm	FOX	12.6	12.334	8.7	20.754
	4:30pm	NBC	14.7	14.412	11.2	27.557
Nov. 28, 1996	12:30pm	NBC	16.6	16.085	11.4	28.355
	4:30pm	FOX	16.6	16.075	13.6	32.711
Nov. 23, 1995	12:30pm	FOX	14.9	14.336	10.8	25.933
	4:30pm	NBC	18.4	17.620	14.5	35.716
Nov. 24, 1994	12:30pm	NBC	15.8	15.073	10.8	27.673
	4:30pm	FOX	16.0	15.264	13.3	30.797
Nov. 25, 1993	12:30pm	CBS	15.8	14.884	11.3	26.691
	4:30pm	NBC	18.6	17.521	16.4	38.406
Nov. 26, 1992	12:30pm	NBC	14.8	13.779	10.8	25.732
	4:30pm	CBS	16.8	15.641	14.3	33.790
Nov. 28, 1991	12:30pm	CBS	16.8	15.473	12.5	28.478
	4:30pm	NBC	14.4	13.262	12.0	28.674
Nov. 22, 1990	12:30pm	NBC	15.5	14.43	11.3	25.83
	4:30pm	CBS	14.7	13.69	12.9	28.19
Nov. 23, 1989	12:30pm	NBC	15.4	14.18	11.5	26.54
	4:30pm	CBS	15.4	14.18	13.5	30.70
Nov. 24, 1988	12:30pm	CBS	13.7	12.38	9.3	22.73
	4:30pm	NBC	15.0	13.56	12.4	28.04
Nov. 26, 1987	12:30pm	NBC	14.8	13.11	10.9	25.92
	4:30pm	CBS	17.1	15.15	16.0	33.97
Nov. 27, 1986	12:30pm	CBS	16.3	14.25	11.6	26.19
	4:30pm	NBC	15.9	13.90	14.0	29.57
Nov. 28, 1985	12:30pm	NBC	18.7	16.06	16.3	33.37
	4:30pm	CBS	19.4	16.66	18.8	39.57
Nov. 22, 1984	12:30pm	CBS	18.5	15.71	15.2	30.82
	4:30pm	NBC	19.0	16.13	17.1	37.78
Nov. 24, 1983	12:30pm	NBC	21.1	17.68	15.1	31.51
	4:30pm	CBS	20.9	17.51	17.1	37.47
Nov. 25, 1982	12:30pm	CBS	20.2	16.83	16.1	32.13
	4:30pm	NBC	18.5	15.41	19.6	36.72
Nov. 26, 1981	12:30pm	NBC	20.6	16.79	16.3	32.05
	4:30pm	CBS	20.9	17.03	18.2	38.15
Nov. 27, 1980	12:30pm	CBS	21.5	16.73	16.2	31.50
	4:30pm	NBC	19.3	15.02	18.4	34.67
Nov. 22, 1979	12:30pm	CBS	21.5	16.40	19.5	34.14
	4:30pm	NBC	25.4	19.38	26.5	44.36
Nov. 23, 1978	12:30pm	NBC	20.5	15.27	15.8	30.59
	4:30pm	CBS	21.9	16.32	19.3	36.26
Nov. 24, 1977	12:30pm	CBS	19.9	14.51	19.4	33.75
	4:30pm	NBC	16.2	11.81	11.8	24.54

Source: Nielsen Media Research (1991-2023), NTI Pocketpieces (1977-1990)