Before the season, Indianapolis-New Orleans, a rematch of Super Bowl XLIV was quite the attractive matchup to go head-to-head against the World Series. But when Peyton Manning announced he could not play and the Colts acknowledged he would be lost for the season, the game became less sexy. Then the Colts started losing and by the time the game arrived, an 0-6 record against the 4-2 Saints looked like a mismatch.
And when the opening kickoff went off, the game was for all intents and purposes over. The Saints were up 21-0 at end of the first quarter, never looked back, kept scoring and by the time the final gun sounded, New Orleans had given the Colts a 62-7 shellacking, making that the most points scored 1985.
The overnight rating ended at 8.2 with a 13 share. It breaks Sunday Night Football’s streak of 6 consecutive primetime wins this season. This also marks a season low for SNF. We’ll get final viewership numbers tomorrow, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see a number lower than last week’s 16.6 million people which was the then-season low.
The World Series on Fox received a 10.1 rating easily winning the night. And it’s not the first time that baseball has defeated Sunday Night Football on NBC as Sports Media Watch tells us.
We have the press release from NBC below.
“SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL” EARNS 8.2 OVERNIGHT RATING WITH SAINTS 62-7 BLOWOUT OF WINLESS COLTS
SNF Faced Game 4 of World Series
Saints 62-7 Victory is Most Lopsided Game in SNF 6-Year HistoryNEW YORK – October 24, 2011 – Last night’s Sunday Night Football game, which saw the Saints defeat the winless Colts, 62-7, was the most lopsided result in the six-year history of SNF. The Saints led the game 21-0 at the end of the first quarter, 34-7 at halftime and 48-7 after three quarters. The 62 points scored by the Saints tied a record for most points scored by any team since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970 (Jaguars 62, Dolphins 7 in divisional round of the playoffs on Jan. 15, 2000).
Last night’s game registered an 8.2 overnight rating and a 13 share, according to overnight data released today by The Nielsen Company, while competing head-to-head with Game 4 of the World Series (10.1/16). This marks the second straight year that SNF went up against the World Series. In Week 8 last year, the Steelers-Saints game registered an 11.8/18 overnight rating while the World Series drew a 10.4/16.
TOP 10 METERED MARKETS FOR COLTS-SAINTS:
1. New Orleans, 50.9/66
2. Indianapolis, 27.1/40
3. Norfolk, 12.6/18
4. Baltimore, 12.0/19
5. Richmond, 11.8/16
6. Las Vegas, 11.6/18
7. Atlanta, 11.2/17
8. Albuquerque, 10.9/16
9. Nashville, 10.8/15
10. Kansas City, 10.1/14
That’s it.
