NBC's Sunday Night Football Soars Again in 2012

Let’s take a look at what NBC is saying about its number one series in all of primetime, Sunday Night Football. Once again, it cleaned up in Week 6 even with the Green Bay Packers blowout of the Houston Texans and with Game 1 of the National League Championship Series on Fox.

Sunday’s game received an 11.8 rating with an 18 share, up 17% from last year’s Week 6 game involving the Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears. The average viewership for the game was 19.9 million, up significantly from last year’s 16.6 million for the comparable week last season.

Overall, NBC is seeing a six week average of 13.4/21 for the season which is the best for the network television primetime package dating back to 1996 and an average of 13.5/21 when ABC had Monday Night Football. Viewership for six weeks averages to 22.1 million, down slightly from last year’s 22.2 million.

Let’s take a look at the NBC Sports press release.

SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL ON NBC IS OFF TO HIGHEST-RATED START IN ITS 7-YEAR HISTORY

Sunday Night Football is No. 1 Primetime Program of 2012-2013 Television Season
13.4 Household Rating Through 6 Weeks is Best in SNF History and Highest-Rated Start to an NFL Primetime Package in 13 Years
22.1 Million Viewers Through 7 Weeks is Slightly Below 2011 (22.2 million) and is 2nd Most-Watched NFL Primetime Package in 16 Years
Packers-Texans Draws 19.9 Million Viewers, Best for an NFL Week 6 Primetime Game Since 2000

NEW YORK – October 16, 2012 – NBC’s seven-game household rating of 13.4/21 is the best start in the seven-year history of Sunday Night Football, and the highest-rated start to a season for an NFL primetime package in 13 years (13.5/21 household rating for ABC in 1996).

  • The six-week viewership for seven games (22.1 million) is slightly below from 2011 (22.2 million) and is the second most-watched start to a season for a primetime package in 16 years (24.5 million in 1996 on ABC).

SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL THROUGH 6 WEEKS:

YEAR

Viewers 2+ HH Rating

2012

22.1 million, 13.4/21

2011

22.2 million, 13.3/21

2010

21.4 million, 12.9/21

2009

19.7 million, 11.9/19

2008

16.6 million, 10.2/17

2007

16.5 million, 10.4/17

2006

17.2 million, 11.1/18

PACKERS-TEXANS:

Sunday’s game on NBC, in which the Packers blew out the Texans, 42-24, drew 19.9 million viewers, up 13% from last year’s Week 6 SNF game (16.6 million for Vikings-Bears). It is the most-watched Week 6 game in SNF history, and the most-watched Week 6 primetime game in 12 years (22.0 million for Bucs-Vikings, 10/9/00 on ABC).

  • The household rating of 11.8/18 for Sunday’s Packers-Texans game is up 17% from last year’s Week 6 SNF game (10.1/16 for Vikings-Bears) and is the highest-rated Week 6 primetime game in 12 years.
  • Sunday’s game went head-to-head with Game 1 of the National League Championship Series on Fox. It is the most-watched and highest-rated NFL primetime game vs. MLB LCS playoffs in 16 years (26.5 million for 49ers-Packers on 10/14/96).
    • Every Week 6 Sunday Night Football game in its seven-year history faced MLB LCS playoffs.

SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL WEEK 6 GAMES:

Year

Visitor

Home

Viewers 2+, HH Rating

2012

Packers

Texans

19.9 million, 11.8/18

2011

Vikings

Bears

16.6 million, 10.1/16

2010

Colts

Redskins

19.1 million, 11.7/19

2009

Bears

Falcons

18.2 million, 10.9/17

2008

Patriots

Chargers

13.1 million, 8.2/13

2007

Saints

Seahawks

11.2 million, 7.1/11

2006

Raiders

Broncos

12.3 million, 7.9/12

SNF NO. 1 SHOW FOR OF PRIMETIME SEASON: For the official primetime television season, Sunday Night Football ranks as the No. 1 show among viewers, households and all key adult and male demographics. Additionally, it is the No. 4 show among women 18-34 and No. 5 among women 18-49.

SNF DOMINATES SUNDAY NIGHT: The Packers-Texans Sunday Night Football broadcast easily won the night facing original network programming including Game 1 of the National League Championship Series on Fox. NBC led the night among viewers 2+ in primetime with 17.2 million viewers (7:30-11 p.m. ET) topping the 10.1 million for second-place CBS by 69%. NBC also beat Fox, (9.2), which was aided by an NFL overrun and Game 1 of the NLCS, by 86% and ABC (7.1 million) by 142%. NBC also won the night in households and all key adult and male demographics.

Sunday Night Football has won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Live Sports Series each of the last four years.

TOP 10 METERED MARKETS FOR PACKERS-TEXANS:

1. Milwaukee

51.9/68

2. Houston

32.6/46

3. New Orleans

19.7/27

4. Minneapolis

18.6/29

5. Las Vegas

17.1/28

6. Austin

16.6/26

7. Richmond

15.5/22

8. Chicago

15.3/23

9. Denver

15.2/26

10. Phoenix

14.8/24

That is all.

About Ken Fang

Ken has been covering the sports media in earnest at his own site, Fang's Bites since May 2007 and at Awful Announcing since March 2013. He provides a unique perspective having been an award-winning radio news reporter in Providence and having worked in local television. Fang celebrates the three Boston Red Sox World Championships in the 21st Century, but continues to be a long-suffering Cleveland Browns fan.

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