NFL Network Breaks Audience Records for Pre-Season Games

NFL Network drew a record 737, generic ed 000 average viewers for the prime time Around the League: Preseason 2011 special which is a 767 percent increase on the same night a year ago.

The special show marked NFL Network’s highest-ever prime time August viewership for a non-game telecast. The show featured live look-ins on pre-season games

NFL Digital Media properties, including NFL.com, NFL Mobile Only from Verizon and other NFL mobile products, also drew the highest numbers ever for the first day of a NFL preseason, growing unique visitors by 86 percent over the same day in 2010. Fans also streamed 138 percent more NFL.com video than last year. In addition, more than twice as many fans have subscribed to NFL.com Preseason Live –which offers live preseason games with DVR functionality — than did for the entire 2010 preseason.

Also last Thursday, NFLN’s tape-delayed telecast of Ravens-Eagles at 11:00 PM ET drew 756,000 viewers – an 84 percent increase over last year’s game in the same time period (Saints-Patriots). The game was also the most-watched late night preseason re-air in the network’s history.

Saturday night’s live Packers-Browns telecast will rank among the three most-watched preseason telecasts in NFL Network history with more than one million viewers tuning in.