After a near-record high for the NFL Kickoff Game, NBC scored another near-record for its first Sunday Night Football game of the season.
The Week 1 Giants/Cowboys Sunday Night Football game drew a 15.4 final rating and 26.8 million viewers on NBC, up 11% in ratings and 13% in viewership from Colts/Broncos last year (14.0, 23.8M) and up 3% and 5%, respectively, from Giants/Cowboys in 2013 (15.0, 25.4M).
The Cowboys’ last second win ranks as the highest rated and most-watched SNF opener since Steelers/Broncos in 2012 (16.5, 27.6M) the second-highest in both measures since NBC resumed airing NFL games in 2006. It also scored the second-largest audience for a primetime Giants/Cowboys game on record (dating back to 1987), trailing only the teams’ Week 17 meeting in the 2011-12 season (27.6M).
Among adults 18-49, the game had a 10.1 rating — up 12% from last year (9.0) and up a tick from 2013 (10.0).
Giants/Cowboys was the second game of Week 1 to hit a near-high on NBC. The Steelers/Patriots Kickoff Game scored its second-highest rating and viewership on Thursday night, with a 16.2 and 27.4 million. Overall, Week 1 averaged a 15.8 rating and 27.1 million viewers on NBC — up 6% in ratings and viewership from last year, and the network’s most-watched opening weekend since resuming NFL coverage.
(Sun. numbers from NBC Sports Group Press Box)
