After an increase in the overnights, final ratings were down yet again for the NFL on FOX.
The Week 5 NFL singleheader window, featuring Cardinals/Broncos in 37% of markets, drew an 11.5 final rating and 19.3 million viewers on FOX — down 2% in ratings and 1% in viewership from coverage featuring Saints/Bears last year (11.7, 19.6M). Compared to coverage featuring Eagles/Steelers in 2012 (11.4, 19.4M), ratings increased 1% and viewership dropped by a fraction of a percent.
All seven NFL telecasts on FOX this season have had declines in both ratings and viewership from last year. A major caveat is that FOX got off to an unusually strong start last season, with increases for its first nine windows.
Compared to 2012, six of this year’s seven telecasts have had increases in ratings and five have had increases in viewership.
In a rarity, the singleheader earned the same rating as the NFL national window on CBS (11.5) — though it also had a slightly smaller audience (19.3M to 19.7M).
(Sun. numbers from Nielsen)
