Sunday Night Football Wins Primetime, But Down From Last Year

Last night’s Detroit-New Orleans game on NBC garnered an 11.9 overnight rating with an 18 share. It was good enough to win the night over all network and cable competition. However, last night’s rating was down 18% from last year’s comparable game between the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers. While the game was relatively close in the second half, there was no real sense the Saints were in any danger of losing their lead once they ran off to a 10-0 start.

Locally, New Orleans led the pack with an amazing 56.3/69. Detroit’s first appearance on NBC’s Sunday Night Football led to a 26.5/37.

We have the full press release from NBC Sports.

LIONS-SAINTS EARNS 11.9 OVERNIGHT RATING ON “SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL”

SNF Is No. 1 Show of Night
New Orleans Leads Metered Markets with 56.3/69; Detroit is Second with 26.5/37 for first NBC SNF appearance

NEW YORK – December 5, 2011 – Sunday Night Football was the No. 1 broadcast in primetime last night, according to overnight data released today by The Nielsen Company.

Last night’s game on NBC, in which the Saints defeated the Lions, 31-17, registered an 11.9 overnight rating and an 18 share, down 18 percent from last year’s Week 13 game that featured the Ravens hosting the Steelers (14.6/23). In that game, both teams entered at 8-3, tied for first place in the AFC North. Last night’s game was the Lions first on NBC Sunday Night Football and the Detroit market delivered a 26.5 rating/37 share. New Orleans led all markets with a 56.3 rating/69 share.

TOP 10 METERED MARKETS FOR LIONS-SAINTS:

1. New Orleans, 56.3/69
2. Detroit, 26.5/37
3. Las Vegas, 18.7/27
4. San Diego, 16.3/28
5. Milwaukee, 15.4/23
6. Indianapolis, 14.8/23
7. Memphis, 14.4/20
8. Richmond, 14.3/21
9. Kansas City, 14.1/20
10. Sacramento, 13.7/23

40 FOR 41: SNF was the No. 1 show of the night in metered-market households, excluding NFL overruns and post-game shows. When the viewership is available tomorrow from Nielsen, Sunday Night Football is expected to be the most-watched primetime show on Sunday night. This will mark the 40th time in 41 primetime NFL games – dating back to Week 7 in 2009 – that NBC has defeated its competition (37 Sundays, two Thursdays and one Tuesday).

NBC TIED FOR NO. 1 ON SUNDAY NIGHT: Last night’s Sunday Night Football game led NBC to a tie for No. 1 for the night among metered markets in primetime (7-11 p.m.) with a 9.1/14, tying the 9.1/14 for Fox, which was boosted by an NFL overrun. NBC also beat CBS (7.4/11) by 23 percent and ABC (4.9/8) by 86 percent.

**Viewership numbers will be available when national ratings are released tomorrow**

More coming up.

About Ken Fang

Ken has been covering the sports media in earnest at his own site, Fang's Bites since May 2007 and at Awful Announcing since March 2013. He provides a unique perspective having been an award-winning radio news reporter in Providence and having worked in local television. Fang celebrates the three Boston Red Sox World Championships in the 21st Century, but continues to be a long-suffering Cleveland Browns fan.

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