NBC sends a press release touting the viewership numbers for Sunday Night Football. Still, they were the lowest of the season as an average of 20.4 million people watched the Pittsburgh-Indianapolis game. It received a 12.2 rating with a 19 share.
Compared with Week 1 which had 25.8 million people and was the most watched Sunday Night Football game ever and Week 2 which garnered an audience of 23.4 million, the Steelers-Colts was not as attractive going into this past week as it would have been had Peyton Manning not been hurt prior to the season.
Still, the game did better than last season’s Week 3 matchup between the Jets and Dolphins which had an 11.3/19 and 18.1 million viewers. And of course, SNF won the primetime network ratings over all competition.
We have the press release.
20.4 MILLION WATCH STEELERS-COLTS ON SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL ON NBC
Viewership and National Rating Both Up From Last Year’s Week 3 Game
NEW YORK – Sept. 27, 2011 – The Steelers-Colts Sunday Night Football game on NBC was seen by an average of 20.4 million people and registered a national rating of 12.2 and a 19 share, according to official national ratings data released today by The Nielsen Company. The game led NBC to another Sunday night win while facing competition from network season premieres.
The viewership and household rating for Sunday night’s game (8:31-11:35 p.m. ET), in which the defending AFC Champion Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Indianapolis Colts, without their star quarterback Peyton Manning, 23-20, is up 13 and eight percent, respectively, from last year’s Sunday Night Football Week 3 contest (Jets-Dolphins, 18.1 million, 11.3/19).
SNF IS NO. 1 SHOW OF SUNDAY NIGHT, DEFEATS DEBUT COMPETITION: The Steelers-Colts broadcast was the No. 1 show of Sunday night in households, total viewers and all key adult and male demographics (excluding NFL overruns) while facing network premiere programs.
- Sunday Night Football powered NBC to a Sunday night primetime win, averaging 17.0 million viewers from 7:30-11 p.m., 52 percent ahead of second-place Fox (11.2 million from 7-10 p.m.), which benefited from an NFL overrun.
SNF 4-FOR-4: With 20.4 million viewers for Steelers-Colts, Sunday Night Football starts the season four-for-four versus its competition. 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).
- 2011 – 4 of 4 (Three Sundays, one Thursday – 100 percent)
- 2010 – 18 of 18 (16 Sundays, one Tuesday and one Thursday – 100 percent)
- 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)
SNF STARTS STRONG: NBC’s four-game average viewership of 24.2 million is up four percent over last year’s 23.3 million for NBC’s opening three weeks of the NFL season, the best start in the six-year history of Sunday Night Football.
- The four-game average household rating of 14.5/23 is up four percent from last year (14.0/23).
- The critically acclaimed Football Night in America is averaging 10.0 million viewers and a household rating of 6.1/10 (7:30-8:15 p.m. ET) through the first three weeks, both up 13 percent from last year’s first three weeks.
TOP 10 METERED MARKETS FOR STEELERS-COLTS:
1. Pittsburgh, 48.5/67
2. Indianapolis, 40.7/56
3. Richmond, 20.0/29
4. Norfolk, 19.7/27
5. New Orleans, 18.8/25
6. Nashville, 18.7/26
7. Las Vegas, 18.5/29
8. Memphis, 17.8/25
9. Washington, D.C., 17.4/29
10. Baltimore, 17.2/26
NBC should get better numbers this Sunday with the Jets from the number one market taking on Baltimore. There you have it.
