"SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL" SCORES NFL'S BEST PRESEASON OVERNIGHT THIS YEAR

SNF Leads NBC to Sunday Night Win

NEW YORK - August 22, 2011 - Last night's "Sunday Night Football" preseason game, in which the San Diego Chargers defeated the Dallas Cowboys, 20-7, delivered a 7.1 overnight rating and 12 share (8:15-11 p.m. ET), the best overnight rating for any NFL preseason game on any network this year. The game peaked at an 8.1/13 from 9-9:30 p.m. ET.

NO. 1 BROADCAST OF THE NIGHT: "Sunday Night Football" was the No. 1 broadcast of the night in the metered markets and dominated its time period, beating second-place CBS by 100 percent (7.0 vs. 3.5 from 8-11 p.m. ET).

SNF CONTINUES TO DOMINATE SUNDAY NIGHTS: This continues a trend for SNF dominating Sunday nights. Last season, "Sunday Night Football" was the No. 1 show all 18 nights (100 percent) vs. its competition (16 Sundays, one Tuesday and one Thursday).

2009 - 15 of 16 Sundays (94 percent)
2008 - 13 of 16 Sundays (81 percent)
2007 - 11 of 16 Sundays (69 percent)
2006 - nine of 16 Sundays (56 percent)

The 7.1/12 overnight rating was down slightly from last year's 7.2/12 for the Vikings-49ers game, which featured Brett Favre at quarterback for the Vikings.

Top 10 Metered Markets for Chargers-Cowboys:
1. Dallas, 23.7/38
2. San Diego, 22.2/37
3. San Antonio, 15.1/23
4. Austin, 14.7/25
5. Houston, 12.5/20
6. Oklahoma City, 11.7/17
7. Albuquerque, 10.4/17
8. Richmond, 10.3/15
9. Norfolk, 10.2/15
10. Nashville, 10.0/14