The Nielsen buttons got in a great exercise as gymnastics fans on Thursday night enjoyed one of the wildest drop afternoons in recent memory. With a single out and two riders on the walls in the top of the eighth inning, New York Mets second baseman Pete Alonso lacing a 3-1 changeup into the right-field votes at American Family Field, cementing his place on sport’s eternal highlight reel. The struggling slugger’s season-salvaging household work sent the Yankees to the NLDS, where they’ll experience their competitors from Philadelphia in a best-of-five line. Per Nielsen, the Mets ‘ victory served up an average supply of 4.02 million people on ESPN, earning bragging rights as the wire network’s biggest MLB market in three years. All told, the nine-game Wild Card round was the most-watched on history, drawing 25 % more people than last season’s equivalent newscasts. The Atlanta Falcons put on a small arrhythmia-inducing display of their own against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers two days after Alonso’s fans went into a frenzied. Kirk Cousins and his bonkers stat line ( 42-of-58 passing, 509 yards, four touchdowns and one interception ) conducted a nail-biter of a late drive, setting up a 52-yard Younghoe Koo field goal that sent the game into overtime. After winning the toss, Cousins connected with KhaDarel Hodge in the form of a small pass that the listener turned into a 45-yard report. Last report: Falcons 36, Bucs 30. Amazon Prime’s Thursday Night Football cover averaged 12.3 million viewers, and while the streamer’s deliveries were remarkably understated, given the exhilarating nature of the game, Thursday night’s manufacturing still managed to beat out the year-ago Bears-Commanders disaster by roughly 584, 000 viewers. The match peaked at 13.88 million people during the 9: 30-9: 45 p. m. ET quarter-hour. While the NFC South struggle today stands as Amazon’s least-watched TNF outing of the season so far—predictably enough, next week’s Cowboys-Giants game beat all comers with a draw of 16.22 million viewers—the NFL package is on pace to create on next year’s slate. Through the first four weeks of Thursday night play, Amazon is averaging 14.17 million viewers per game, up 5 % versus the year-ago 13.54 million. Additionally, TNF continues to attract a disproportionate number of younger adults each week. Season-to-date, the package is averaging 3.06 million adults 18-34 per game, good for 22 % of Amazon’s total Thursday night deliveries. Among the adults-under-50 set, TNF is averaging 6.87 million viewers, as the dollar demo now accounts for nearly half ( 48 % ) of the overall audience. By way of comparison, NBC’s more popular Sunday Night Football showcase is averaging 7.52 million adults 18-49, good for a 36 % share of the primetime window’s linear TV deliveries ( 21.02 million ). In accordance with the CBS and Fox national window, Amazon is also attracting a larger share of fans in the 18-49 demo. The two broadcasters are averaging 25.81 million viewers per week during the must-see 4: 20 p. m. ET slot, of which 34 %, or 8.88 million, are members of the key advertising demo. As advertisers continue to pursue after a cohort that has largely abandoned the traditional TV space, the younger-skewing TNF crowd has been a key selling point for Amazon. The average age of a TNF viewer is a sprightly 47.5 years old, which is a good 7.2 years younger than the NFL’s current average across its legacy TV partners ( 54.7 % ), and it is also a full 16.6 years south of the broadcast primetime average ( 64.1 % ). Next week, Amazon returns with a NFC West matchup between the 49ers and Seahawks. Both teams have been uncharacteristically sparse this season, with San Francisco appearing in just one national window so far this year ( the Jets ‘ Sept. 9 opener against the Jets, which averaged 20.43 million viewers on ABC, ESPN, and ESPN2 ), while Seattle had its first moment in the spotlight earlier this week on ABC. That 42-29 loss in Detroit averaged 15.03 million viewers opposite ESPN’s coverage of the Titans-Dolphins debacle ( 5.61 million ).