Eagles-Cowboys Becomes Most Watched Sunday Night Football Game Ever

NBC is rejoicing this holiday season over the ratings for Sunday night’s Philadelphia Eagles-Dallas Cowboys game. And I was not happy about this game not being flexed out of the primetime slot. Shows you what I know. It turned out to be a dandy.

The rating was a 15.2 with a 24 share. Almost 26 million viewers watched which is an amazing number.

EAGLES-COWBOYS IS MOST-WATCHED “SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL” BROADCAST EVER

25.73 Million Viewers, up 23% From Last Year’s Week 14 Game

SNF Most-Watched Sunday Night Show Every Week So Far This Season (14 For 14)

SNF is Most-Watched Show of the Primetime Television Season

NEW YORK – December 14, 2010 – The Eagles-Cowboys game was the most-watched “Sunday Night Football” game ever and up 23 percent from last year’s Week 14 game.  It is the No. 1 show on Sunday night for the 14^th consecutive week and the No. 1 primetime show of the week among viewers, households and in the key advertising demographics; is the most-watched show of the primetime season and the No. 1 primetime show in all adult and male demographics, according to official national data released today by The Nielsen Company.  

• “Sunday Night Football,” featuring the Eagles 30-27 victory over the Cowboys, was seen by 25.73 million viewers (8:31-11:33 p.m.), the best ever in the five-year history of “Sunday Night Football,” and a gain of 23 percent over last year’s Week 14 game (Eagles-Giants, 20.9 million).

• The 15.2/24 national rating for Sunday night’s game is the second-best ever in the history of SNF and is 20 percent ahead of last year’s Week 14 SNF game (Eagles-Giants, 12.7/21).

MOST WATCHED “SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL” GAMES:

1. 12/12/10, Eagles-Cowboys, 25.73 million (Sunday Night’s Game) 

2. 10/24/10, Vikings-Packers, 25.68 million (Favre Return to Lambeau II)

3. 9/12/10, Cowboys-Redskins, 25.3 million (SNF: Week 1)

4. 9/20/09, Giants-Cowboys, 24.8 million (Dallas Cowboys stadium debut)

5. 11/21/10, Giants-Eagles, 23.2 million (SNF: Week 11)

T6. 09/19/10, Giants-Colts, 23.1 million (“Manning Bowl II”)

T6. 12/14/08, Giants-Cowboys, 23.1 million

8. 9/10/06, Colts-Giants, 22.6 million (Original “Manning Bowl”)

9. 12/5/10, Steelers-Ravens, 22.5 million (SNF: Week 13)

10. 11/15/09, Patriots-Colts, 22.4 million

*The NFL Kickoff Opener on Thursday, Sept. 9, 2010 between the Vikings and Saints generated an average viewership of 27.5 million people.

DEFEATED ALL SUNDAY NIGHT COMPETITION: The “Sunday Night Football” broadcast defeated all Sunday Night competition for the 14^th time in 14 weeks, on a night that included such original competition as CBS’s 60 Minutes, with a feature on Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, the season finale of Amazing Race, Undercover Boss and CSI: Miami, Fox’s Simpsons, Family Guy and American Dad and ABC’s Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters.

SNF IS 14 FOR 14: With 25.7 million viewers, “Sunday Night Football” was the most-watched primetime show on Sunday night for the 14^th straight week this season (100 percent).  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).

NO. 1 SHOW OF THE WEEK: Sunday night’s game was the most-watched and highest-rated primetime program of the week and, for the 14^th straight week, “Sunday Night Football” was the No. 1 regularly-scheduled primetime broadcast of the week by a wide margin among Adults 18-49, the coveted advertiser demographic.  SNF was also the No. 1 show this week among Adults 18-34, Adults 25-54, Men 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54.   

• For the week, “Sunday Night Football” had a 116-percent margin of victory over the No. 2 show in Adults 18-49 (9.8 for SNF vs. 4.4 for Glee on Fox).

• Since the beginning of the primetime television season, “Sunday Night Football” stands as the most-watched primetime show on television (based on Nielsen live plus same day) and the No. 1 regularly scheduled primetime show in all key adult and male demos.

Through the first 14 weeks of the NFL season, “Sunday Night Football” is averaging 21.7 million viewers, two million more than last year through this point of the season (19.7 million). 

SNF AVERAGE VIEWERSHIP THROUGH 10 WEEKS:

1. 2010, 21.7 million 

2. 2009, 19.7 million

3. 2006, 17.5 million

4. 2007, 16.2 million

5. 2008, 16.1 million

The 14-week average household rating of 13.0/21 is nine-percent higher than last year’s 11.9/19 and 31 percent ahead of 2008 (9.9/16) through the same point in the season.

TOP MARKETS FOR EAGLES-COWBOYS:

1. Philadelphia, 38.4/51

2. Dallas, 38.0/55

3. San Antonio, 27.3/39

4. Norfolk, 25.1/35

T5. Richmond, 24.2/36

T5. New Orleans, 24.2/31

7. Austin, 24.0/37

8. Albuquerque, 20.4/30

9. Washington, D.C., 20.1/32

10. Baltimore, 19.7/29

More later.