Sunday Night Football delivered its best numbers in six weeks, but the performance was nothing to brag about.
The Week 9 Broncos/Raiders Sunday Night Football game had a 10.4 final rating and 18.3 million viewers on NBC, down 24% in ratings and 20% in viewership from Eagles/Cowboys last year (13.6, 23.0M) and down 6% and 1%, respectively, from Ravens/Steelers in 2014 (11.1, 18.6M).
The Raiders’ win earned the smallest audience for SNF in Week 9 of the season since Colts/Texans in 2013 (17.0M) and tied that matchup as the lowest rated since Cowboys/Eagles in 2007 (10.2).
All ten NFL telecasts on NBC this season have hit a multi-year low in ratings and eight of the ten have done so in viewership.
Despite the lower numbers, Sunday’s game was the highest rated and most-watched primetime NFL telecast in six weeks — since Bears/Cowboys on SNF in Week 3 (11.7, 20.6M). Keep in mind that is more a testament to the weakness of the NFL in primetime this season than to the strength of Sunday’s matchup. It was the sixth straight edition of SNF to fall below an 11.0 rating and 19 million viewers, matching the previous two seasons combined.
In adults 18-49, SNF had a 6.6 rating — down 21% from last year (8.4) but down just a tick from 2014 (6.7).
(Sun. numbers via ShowBuzz Daily 11/8)
