NBC Sports saw heavier competition on Sunday due to the season premieres of The Amazing Race on CBS and Desperate Housewives on ABC plus a less than marquee matchup between Indianapolis and Arizona along with a blowout, but still managed to win the ratings. Here’s a release from NBC.
"SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL" #1 SHOW OF SUNDAY NIGHT FOR THIRD CONSECUTIVE WEEK
Colts-Cardinals Blowout Beats Network Premieres Across All Metrics
SNF #1 For Week in Key Demos
NEW YORK -- Sept. 29, 2009 -- NBC's "Sunday Night Football" was the No. 1 broadcast on Sunday night for the third consecutive week and the No. 1 show of the week in the key advertising demos, including Adults 18-49. "SNF" won the night on a night that included season premieres of ABC's Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters, CBS's Amazing Race and Fox's Simpsons, Family Guy and the debut of The Cleveland Show.
"Sunday Night Football" featuring the Indianapolis Colts 31-10 blowout of the Arizona Cardinals, pulled in 17.5 million viewers (from 8:31-11:13 p.m. ET) and had a national household rating of 10.7 and a 17 share, easily winning the night across those metrics as well as in the key advertiser demos of Adults 18-34, 18-49, 25-54 and Men 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54.
DOMINATES PRIMETIME AGAIN: The SNF game once again propelled NBC to a convincing primetime win on Sunday night with a margin of victory over the No. 2 network, Fox, by 71 percent in adults 18-49 and over the No. 2 network in total viewers, CBS, by 28 percent.
"SNF" DEFEATS "DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES": "Sunday Night Football" beat the much-anticipated season premiere of ABC's "Desperate Housewives" head-to-head by 40 percent (19.0 million viewers to 13.6 million from 9-10 p.m. ET).
SNF WINS WEEK IN KEY DEMOS: The Colts-Cardinals game topped the weekly primetime rankings in the key demographic of adults 18-49 and also ranked No. 1 for the week among all primetime programs in adults 25-54, men 18-49 and men 25-54. In total viewers, "SNF" ranked #4 among all telecasts this week.
The Colts-Cardinals 31-10 blowout is down 20 percent (17.5 million to 22.2 million) from last year's Week 3 Dallas Cowboys-Green Bay Packers match-up. That game, that "America's Team" won 27-16, did not air against the season premieres on other networks.
Compared to last week which not only was heavily hyped thanks to the opening of Cowboys Stadium and the Giants-Cowboys game that was close to the end, last Sunday’s game did not have the juice as last week, but still managed to win the ratings.
