Last night’s “Sunday Night Football” game recorded the best overnight for an NFL primetime game in October in 10 years and was the No. 1 program on Sunday night for the fourth consecutive week, according to overnight data released today by The Nielsen Company.
“Sunday Night Football” featuring the New York Giants 17-3 victory over the Chicago Bears, earned a 14.2 overnight rating and 22 share (from 8:30-11:15 p.m. ET), the best for an NFL primetime game in October since 10/9/2000 (Buccaneers-Vikings 14.7/23 on ABC).
Last night’s game was 19 percent higher than last year’s Week 4 SNF game (Chargers-Steelers, 11.9/19).
The rating peaked at a 14.9/22 from 9:30-10 p.m. ET with the Giants taking a 3-0 lead into halftime.
When the viewership is available tomorrow from Nielsen, “Sunday Night Football” is expected to be the most-watched Sunday night show for the fourth consecutive week. Last season, SNF was the most-watched Sunday night primetime broadcast in a record 15 of 16 (94 percent) weeks. In 2008, SNF won 13 of 16 (81 percent) Sunday nights after winning 11 of 16 in 2007 (69 percent) and nine of 16 in 2006 (56 percent).
DOMINATED ORIGINALCOMPETITION: Last night’s “Sunday Night Football” broadcast dominated against original programs including ABC’s Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters, CBS’s 60 Minutes, Amazing Race and Undercover Boss and the season premiere of CSI Miami and Fox’s The Simpsons, The Cleveland Show, Family Guy and the season premiere of American Dad.
NBC led the night among metered markets in primetime (7-11 p.m. ET) with a 10.9/17 topping the 8.1/13 for second-place CBS by 35 percent. NBC also beat Fox by 49 percent (7.3/11) and ABC by 76 percent (6.2/10).
TOP METERED MARKETS FOR BEARS-GIANTS:
1. Chicago, 39.7/54
2. Milwaukee, 21.9/33
3. Las Vegas, 20.6/33
4. New Orleans, 18.5/25
5. West Palm Beach, 16.3/22
6. Richmond, 16.0/23
7. Indianapolis, 15.8/24
8. Phoenix, 15.7/26
T9. Denver, 15.6/25
T9. Kansas City, 15.6/22
T9. Norfolk, 15.6/22
12. New York, 15.4/22
(source: NBC)
