CBS aired the third incarnation of the Manning Bowl pitting brothers Peyton and Eli against each other at the New Meadowlands Stadium on Sunday. While the Denver Broncos laid a 40 burger on the New York Football Giants, viewers flocked to CBS with a strong overnight rating of 17.8 and a 34 share. That’s CBS’ highest overnight rating for a late afternoon NFL game in 15 years.
The numbers are 24% higher than last year’s Week 2 late game. CBS’ late window outpaced NBC’s Sunday Night Football game which received a 13.6/24 for San Francisco-Seattle.
Here’s the CBS blurb.
“THE NFL ON CBS” EARNS HIGHEST RATING IN 15 YEARS FOR WEEK 2 HIGHLIGHTED BY “MANNING BOWL III”
THE NFL ON CBS Scores Highest NFL Ratings of Day
CBS Sports’ Week 2 national doubleheader coverage of THE NFL ON CBS on Sunday, Sept. 15, highlighted by the “Manning Bowl III,” Denver vs. New York Giants, earned an overnight household rating/share of 17.8/34, up 24% from last year’s 14.4/28 (N.Y. Jets-Pittsburgh, Tennessee-San Diego).
The 17.8/34 is the highest-rated debut in the metered markets for the CBS National game in 15 years, since the Network re-acquired NFL broadcast rights in 1998. The 17.8/34 also was the highest-rated NFL game window of the day, including prime time.
THE NFL ON CBS’s Week 2 games were highlighted by the San Diego-Philadelphia, Miami-Indianapolis, Tennessee-Houston and Cleveland-Baltimore in the early window, and the Broncos-Giants and Jacksonville-Oakland in the late window.
That will do it.
