For the fourth straight week, and the fifth straight telecast, NBC scored an increase in ratings and viewership for NFL coverage.
The Week 16 Seahawks/Cardinals Sunday Night Football game drew an 11.5 final rating and 19.3 million viewers on NBC, up 4% in ratings and 6% in viewership from Bears/Eagles last year (11.0, 18.3M) and up 1% and down 1%, respectively, from 49ers/Seahawks in 2012 (11.4, 19.5M).
The Seahawks’ win ranks as the fifth straight NFL telecast on NBC to have a year-over-year increase, dating back to Seahawks/49ers on Thanksgiving night. With that said, it also earned the smallest NFL audience on NBC since Bears/Packers in Week 10 (18.1M) — snapping a six-telecast streak in which each game topped 20 million viewers.
The game drew a 6.1 rating among adults 18-49, down a tick from last year (6.2) and down 9% from 2012 (6.7).
(Sun. numbers from Bloomberg, TV By the Numbers)
