Though down from last year’s Week 10 tilt, Sunday’s Patriots/Steelers matchup still put up good numbers for NBC.
The Patriots’ 13-point win over the Steelers earned a 12.8 final rating and 21.182 million viewers on NBC Sunday night, down 7% in ratings and 5% in viewership from Week 10 last year (NE/IND: 13.7, 22.392 mil), but up 16% and 21%, respectively, from Week 10 two years ago (NYG/PHI: 11.0, 17.564 mil).
This is just the third time all season — but the second time in as many weeks — that ratings and viewership have declined for Sunday Night Football.
As NBC notes, Patriots/Steelers was the sixth NFL telecast on the network this season to draw at least 20 million viewers. Comparably, the network hit the 20 million mark seven times all of last season, and just five times during the prior three seasons combined.
SNF was the highest rated, most-viewed program of the week on broadcast, and also topped the charts in all key adult and male demographics — including adults 18-49 (8.1).
Through Week 10, NBC is averaging a 12.8 rating and 21.3 million viewers for Sunday Night Football, up 7% in ratings and 8% in viewership from last year (12.0, 19.8 mil), and up 28% and 31%, respectively, from 2008 (10.0, 16.2 mil).
The 21.3 million viewers is the highest average for the NFL primetime package through this point of the season since 1996.
(NBC press release from TV By The Numbers; weekly broadcast ratings from TV By The Numbers)
