In a year of massive numbers for the NFL, Brett Favre‘s second return to Lambeau Field did not even hit a season-high.
The Vikings’ loss to the Packers drew a 16.0 overnight rating on NBC Sunday night, up 54% from Week 7 last year (AZ/NYG: 10.4), and up 122% from Week 7 in 2008 (SEA/TB: 7.2).
Last year’s game aired opposite Game 6 of the Angels/Yankees ALCS on FOX, while the 2008 game aired opposite Game 7 of the Red Sox/Rays ALCS on TBS. This year’s game faced no MLB competition.
The 16.0 overnight is the third-highest of the season for the NFL on NBC, trailing Cowboys/Washington (16.4)* and Vikings/Saints (17.7) in Week 1.
This marks the fourth-highest overnight for an NFL telecast on NBC since the network resumed airing coverage in 2006, behind the two aforementioned games and Giants/Cowboys in Week 2 of last season (16.5).
Additionally, this is the highest overnight for a primetime NFL telecast during the month of October since 1998 (MIN/GB: 17.5, ABC).
Last year’s Vikings/Packers game — Favre’s first return to Green Bay — drew an 18.3 overnight on FOX. That game aired in the late national window, which generally draws larger numbers than Sunday Night Football.
Sunday’s game not only trailed last year’s homecoming, but last week’s Vikings/Cowboys game as well (17.4). That game also aired during the late national window.
The Packers’ win drew a 53.1 rating in Milwaukee, up 18% from last year’s Vikings/Packers game (45.0), and tops among metered markets.
In Minneapolis, the game drew a 51.5 rating, up 10% from last year’s game (47.0). For some perspective, Vikings/Packers actually drew more local television households (just over 900,000) than Game 7 of the 1991 Braves/Twins World Series (appx. 893,000). Of course, Braves/Twins drew a higher rating (66.2), as there were fewer television homes in ’91.
Las Vegas (23.5) was the top neutral market, followed by New Orleans (21.5) and Norfolk (21.4).
* In Monday’s press release, NBC said the September 12 Cowboys/Washington game drew a 16.4 overnight rating. However, the network’s September 13 press release on that game had it drawing a 16.6 overnight.
