Continuing a strong start to the season, just over 22 million viewers tuned into the latest edition of Sunday Night Football.
The Packers’ Week 5 win over the Falcons earned a 13.4 final rating and 22.046 million viewers on NBC Sunday night, up 30% in ratings and 31% in viewership from last year (PHI/SF: 10.3, 16.856M), and up 38% in both measures compared to 2009 (TEN/IND: 9.7, 16.017M).
After back-to-back season lows in Week 3 and Week 4, Sunday’s game earned the largest NFL audience on NBC since Eagles/Falcons in Week 2 (14.3, 23.424M).
Packers/Falcons was the top primetime program of the week on broadcast in ratings, viewership and the key adults 18-49 demographic (8.9).
For the season, NBC is averaging a 13.8 rating and 23.0 million viewers for NFL coverage, up 5% in ratings and 6% in viewership from last year (13.1, 21.8M), and up 14% and 15%, respectively, from 2009 (12.1, 20.0M).
This marks the highest viewership average for any NFL primetime package through this point of the season since the 1996-97 season (MNF, 24.7M).
(This year’s numbers from NBC Sports Group press release via Fang’s Bites; additional information from NBC Sports press release via TV By the Numbers; weekly rankings from TV By the Numbers)
