NFL on the 15% plot line

As the NFL kicks off Week 3 with “Thursday Night Football,” team owners, TV networks and Madison Avenue are hoping it can turn around an early-season ratings dip.

Ratings in Weeks 1 and 2 were down 12 and 15 percent, respectively, according to Nielsen.

To be sure, saturation TV coverage of Hurricane Irma drew some eyeballs from football during the first week of play.

Still, nine of the 13 NFL windows in the season-to-date posted viewership declines, Sports Media Watch reported.

“Week 2 might have still been disrupted by carryover impacts from the hurricanes that hit Houston and Florida,” UBS analyst Doug Mitchelson offered by way of explanation.

Jefferies analyst John Janedis drilled down further and estimated a 10-percent ratings drop for the season would cost game-carrying networks — CBS, ESPN, Fox, and NBC — $200 million in lost operating income.

So far, CBS has been the hardest hit in total viewers, a different measure than ratings points. Its two Sundayafternoon games averaged 13.9 million viewers — down 10 percent from last year.

NBC’s three primetime games have averaged 22.1 million viewers — down 7 percent — while Fox’s four Sunday games, two in early afternoon and two in late afternoon, attracted 5 percent fewer viewers, as have ESPN’s broadcasts of “Monday Night Football.”