In the case of Football Night in America, perhaps more is less.
Dan Patrick‘s debut as the third co-host of NBC’s football pregame show drew a 5.3 overnight rating from 7:30-8:15 PM Sunday night, down 10% from a 5.9 last year. The gap between Football Night in America and The OT on FOX grew from 19% on the comparable weekend last year (5.9 to 7.0) to 42% (5.3 to 7.5).
Patrick was not alone. Fellow big-name acquisition Michael Strahan also debuted to declining ratings. FOX NFL Sunday averaged a 3.0 overnight Sunday, down 3% from a 3.1 in ’07.
FOX NFL Sunday finished tied with CBS’ The NFL Today, which also drew a 3.0, down 7% from a 3.2 last year.
Ratings for ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown and the Sunday evening SportsCenter are not yet available.
