or


[09/13/10 - 08:37 AM]
NBC's Sunday Night Football: Best Season Opening Sun/Mon Primetime Overnight Rating in 13 Years
NBC spins the numbers for Sunday, September 12.

[via press release from NBC]

BEST SEASON OPENING SUN/MON PRIMETIME OVERNIGHT RATING IN 13 YEARS

Best SNF Overnight Ever; 16.6 For Last Night's Game Up 24% Over Last Year's Opening SNF Game

BACK TO FOOTBALL: Two-Game Average of 17.1 Best Since Inception of Thursday/Sunday Format in 2002

NEW YORK - Sept. 13, 2010 - Last night's "Sunday Night Football" opener featuring the Cowboys vs. Redskins on NBC Sports had the best overnight for any Week 1 (Sunday or Monday*) primetime game in 13 years, was up 24 percent over last year's SNF opener and is the top rated "Sunday Night Football" game ever according to overnight data released today by The Nielsen Company.

The Redskins 13-7 victory over the Cowboys earned a 16.6 overnight rating and 26 share (8:30-11:45 p.m. ET), the best overnight for any Week 1 (Sunday or Monday) primetime game since Sept. 1, 1997 (Bears-Packers, 16.7/27) and the best "Sunday Night Football" overnight rating since the NFL's premier primetime package returned to NBC in 2006, surpassing such games as the original "Manning Bowl" in 2006 (14.7/23) and last year's opening of the new Cowboys Stadium (16.5/27). Full list below.

*The only primetime NFL broadcast to have a higher overnight rating than last night's game dating back to 1997 was Thursday's NFL Kickoff game between the Vikings and Saints which drew a 17.7/28 overnight.

The 16.6/26 is up 24 percent over last year's SNF season opener (Bears-Packers, 13.4/22). The rating peaked at a 17.9/33 from 11:30-11:45 p.m. ET.

BACK TO FOOTBALL: NBC's two-game overnight average of a 17.1/27 is the best since the NFL created the Thursday/Sunday primetime weekend in 2002 and is up 26 percent over last year's 13.6/23 for the opening weekend on NBC.

DOMINATED PRIMETIME: From 8:30-11 p.m., "Sunday Night Football" averaged a 16.5/25, 346 percent higher than second place CBS (3.7/6). NBC beat the combined primetime averages of CBS, Fox (3.0/4) and ABC (2.4/4) by 84 percent.

NBC's 12.4/20 from 7-11 p.m. in metered-market households is the highest Sunday average for any networks since ABC televised the Academy Awards on March 7.

TOP 10 "SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL" OVERNIGHT RATING/SHARE EVER:
*Sunday's only
1. 9/12/10, Cowboys-Redskins 16.6/26 (Last Night's Game)
2. 9/20/09, Giants-Cowboys 16.5/27 (Dallas Cowboys Stadium Debut)
3. 11/25/07, Eagles-Patriots 15.6/24
4. 12/14/08, Giants-Cowboys 15.4/24
T5. 11/15/09, Patriots-Colts 15.1/24
T5. 11/5/06, Colts-Patriots 15.1/22
7. 9/10/06, Colts-Giants 14.7/23 ("Manning Bowl I")
8. 9/21/08, Cowboys-Packers 14.4/22
9. 11/8/09, Cowboys-Eagles 14.3/23
10. 12/13/09, Eagles-Giants 13.8/22

WEEK ONE "SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL" GAMES:
9/12/10, Cowboys-Redskins 16.6/26
9/10/06, Colts-Giants 14.7/23 ("Manning Bowl I")
9/9/07, Giants-Cowboys 13.6/22
9/13/09, Bears-Packers 13.4/22
9/7/08, Bears-Colts 13.0/20

TOP 10 METERED MARKETS FOR BEARS-PACKERS:
1. Dallas 39.6/58
2. Washington, D.C. 37.2/57
3. San Antonio 32.9/44
4. Richmond 32.1/46
5. Norfolk 30.5/43
6. Austin 26.3/39
7. New Orleans 25.3/34
8. Baltimore 22.6/34
9. Charlotte 21.6/33
10. Albuquerque 21.1/31

Interestingly, it is rare that markets not in the Top 10 score overnight ratings of more than a 20, but that was the case last night for Oklahoma City (20.1/29) and Nashville (20.0/29). Additionally, Philadelphia with a 19.7/29, ranked 14th.

*The San Francisco, Cincinnati and Louisville markets have been delayed by Nielsen





  [september 2010]  
S
M
T
W
T
F
S
   


· SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL (NBC)





most recent ratings | view all posts
[06/03/26 - 07:00 AM]
Fans Power UFL on ESPN to Significant Viewership Growth Across 10-Week Regular Season
ABC alone accounted for eight of the top 10 most-watched games.

[06/03/26 - 06:00 AM]
TNT Sports Caps Its Most Watched NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs with Its Most Watched Conference Final Ever
The record-setting series helped propel TNT Sports' overall coverage of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs to an average of 1.4 million viewers across TNT, TBS, truTV and HBO Max, up 50% from 2025 through the Conference Final.

[06/02/26 - 04:06 PM]
NBC and Peacock Deliver Most-Watched Conference Finals Game Since 2016 with 15.9 Million Viewers for Spurs-Thunder Game 7 on Saturday Night
Across 28 playoff games, NBC Sports' presentation of the 2026 NBA Playoffs averaged 7.2 million viewers on NBC and Peacock, up 72% versus comparable coverage last season.

[06/02/26 - 02:36 PM]
ESPN's WCWS Viewership Success Continues
Texas Tech-UCLA averaged 2.0 million viewers, with a peak of 2.6 million.

[06/02/26 - 02:13 PM]
FOX IndyCar Continues Ratings Growth with Strong Detroit Performance
Through eight races, IndyCar on FOX is averaging 2,241,000 viewers, up +12% from 2025 (2,007,000).

[06/02/26 - 02:00 PM]
FOX MLB's "Baseball Night in America" Delivers Most-Watched Baseball Telecast of the Week
2,322,000 viewers tuned-in to FOX for a two-game slate highlighted by the Cubs' 6-1 victory over the Cardinals in most of the country.

[06/02/26 - 12:01 PM]
Netflix Top 10: Week of May 25 - "The Boroughs" Makes Itself at Home at No. 1 in This Week's Top 10
Plus: "Nemesis" stole away with the No. 2 spot on the list, commanding 5.9 million views.

[06/01/26 - 11:04 AM]
ESPN Scored Most-Watched NCAA Women's College World Series Opening Thursday on Record
Arkansas-Nebraska averaged 1.4 million viewers, with a peak of 1.6 million.

[06/01/26 - 08:27 AM]
ESPN Scores Most-Viewed Stanley Cup Playoffs Western Conference Final Since 2015, The Latest Viewership Successes Headed Into the Stanley Cup Final
Across four games on ESPN, the series averaged 2.2 million viewers and was up 44% vs. the Western Conference Final last year (Edmonton vs. Dallas) which went five games on ESPN.

[05/29/26 - 03:02 PM]
"20/20" Is Friday's No. 1 Newsmagazine, Leading "Dateline" in Total Viewers for the 5th Consecutive Broadcast Season
"20/20" improved on the previous season in Total Viewers (+5%/+170,000 - 3.672 million vs. 3.502 million).

[05/29/26 - 03:01 PM]
ABC News Is #1 in Total Viewers Sunday Morning and in Late-Night
"Nightline" posted double-digit gains week to week in Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49.

[05/28/26 - 03:23 PM]
2026 NBA Eastern Conference Finals Presented by Dunkin' Finishes Strong with Average Audience of 7.4 Million Viewers Across ESPN and ABC
Additionally, Game 4 on ESPN averaged 7.2 million viewers, marking the most-viewed Eastern Conference Finals Game 4 across any network since 2018.

[05/28/26 - 11:00 AM]
CBS Outpaces Competitors with Eight of the Top 25 Series Across All Streaming and Broadcast Originals in Nielsen's All-Series Ranker
CBS has the most top 25 series of any streaming or broadcast competitor and twice as many as its closest broadcast competitor, including six series with 10+ million viewers.

[05/28/26 - 10:31 AM]
FOX Delivers Most-Watched UFL Game Since League Started in 2024
1,593,000 viewers watched as Louisville defeated Dallas 37-23 on Sunday.

[05/28/26 - 10:26 AM]
FOX Scores with 110th Running of the Indianapolis 500
6,635,000 viewers watched Felix Rosenqvist edge David Malukas by 0.0233 seconds with a last-lap pass to win the Indy 500 Sunday on FOX.