For the second straight year, a Week 1 clash between the Giants and Cowboys slipped on NBC.
The Week 1 Giants/Cowboys “Sunday Night Football” game drew a 15.0 final rating and 25.4 million viewers on NBC last weekend, down 9% in ratings and 8% in viewership from Steelers/Broncos last year (16.5, 27.6M), and down 2% and 1%, respectively, from Cowboys/Jets in 2011 (15.3, 25.8M).
Giants/Cowboys ranks as the least-viewed Sunday night opener since Bears/Packers in 2009 (21.102M).
This is the second straight year that the Giants and Cowboys have met on NBC in Week 1 of the season, and both games declined. Last year’s meeting was in the Kickoff Game, which aired on a Wednesday night opposite the Democratic National Convention. Ratings and viewership declined 8% and 12%, respectively.
Despite the lower numbers, Giants/Cowboys still ranks as the ninth-most viewed regular season NFL game on NBC since the network resumed airing games in 2006. Both Week 1 games this season rank in the top ten.
The Cowboys have now played in five of the ten most-viewed games on NBC. Three of those five have pitted the Dallas against New York — the Giants twice and the Jets once.
10 Most-Viewed NFL Regular Season Games on NBC
Since the network resumed airing games in 2006
This year’s games in red
(Sun. numbers from Nielsen)
