With the past two years featuring Cowboys/Giants, it is no surprise that overnight ratings dropped for Patriots/Steelers on CBS.
The Week 7 Patriots/Steelers NFL national window had a 13.7 overnight rating on CBS Sunday afternoon, down 13% from last year (15.8) and down 22% from 2014 (17.6), both of which featured the Giants against the Cowboys on FOX. The 13.7 is the lowest for the Week 7 national window in at least a decade.
The four NFL national windows on CBS have each pulled less than a 14.0 overnight, compared to zero such occurrences — regardless of network — all of last season.* By comparison, the three editions of “America’s Game of the Week” on FOX have pulled overnights of 14.8, 16.9 and 17.4.
The Patriots’ win was also the fifth of seven national windows to hit a multi-year low in the metered markets, including all four on CBS. Keep in mind that the local CBS affiliate in Boston WBZ dealt with outages for much of Sunday, which may have had some impact on the numbers — though not enough to account for the double-digit decline.
Despite the lower numbers this season, the national window has continued its reign as the week’s top NFL telecast. Sunday marked the sixth time in seven weeks this season that it has been the highest rated NFL window, the lone exception being Week 2 — when Packers/Vikings on NBC edged Colts/Broncos on CBS (13.7 to 13.6).
Earlier Sunday, regional action on CBS pulled a 9.0 overnight — up 3% from last year and 2014 on FOX (8.7 both years). Of the 43** NFL telecasts this season, it was just the 10th to post an increase in overnights.
* Not including Week 17, when both FOX and CBS have doubleheaders. ** Excludes Dolphins/Bengals on NFL Network in Week 4, overnights for which were not available.
(Wknd. numbers via Sports Business Daily 10/24; additional info from Worcester Telegram 10/24)
