Considering that neither team scored a touchdown — or a win — NBC did about as well as it could have hoped for Sunday Night Football.
The Week 7 Seahawks/Cardinals Sunday Night Football game had an 11.6 overnight rating on NBC, down 15% from Eagles/Panthers last year (13.6) and down 22% from 49ers/Broncos in 2014 (14.8). The 11.6 is the lowest for SNF in Week 7 of the season since Saints 62, Colts 7 in 2011 (8.2).
All eight NFL telecasts on NBC this season have declined in the metered markets, and seven of the eight have hit a multi-year low.
Despite the drop, the 11.6 overnight was the highest in nearly a month for SNF, since Bears/Cowboys in Week 3 (12.9). It was also the first SNF game all season to improve over the previous telecast. After the Panthers/Broncos Kickoff had a 16.5, overnights fell for each successive game, to 14.8, 13.7, 12.9, 11.0 and 10.2, before bottoming out at 9.0 for Colts/Texans last week.
Neither the Seahawks nor the Cardinals scored a touchdown in Sunday’s 6-6 draw, the first primetime tie since Washington/Giants on ESPN’s SNF in 1997. It was the first primetime tie on broadcast since the Giants faced the then-St. Louis Cardinals on ABC’s Monday Night Football in 1983.
For the third straight week, SNF faced tough competition, this time from the season premiere of The Walking Dead. Overnights for that telecast were not immediately available. SNF faced Game 2 of the Cubs/Dodgers National League Championship Series the previous week, and would no doubt have suffered had that series gone to a seventh game. Most notably, it aired opposite the second presidential debate two weeks ago.
Seattle led all markets for Sunday’s tie with a 47.9 rating. Phoenix ranked second at 31.7, with Portland (24.5), Albuquerque (17.6) and Las Vegas (17.2) rounding out the top five.
(Sun. numbers from NBC Sports)
