For the second straight week, the Cowboys could not save FOX NFL ratings.
FOX earned a 12.7 rating and 22.0 million viewers for Sunday’s Dallas-Washington NFL national window, down 3% in ratings and viewership from Packers-Falcons last year (13.1, 22.7M) and down 25% in both measures from Seahawks-Cowboys in 2015 (17.0, 29.4M).
The Cowboys’ win, which had an additional 132,000 viewers on Fox Sports GO, ranks as the lowest rated and least-watched Week 8 national window since 2014 — when CBS pulled a 12.2 and 20.7 million for coverage featuring Colts-Steelers.
The last two NFL telecasts to feature the Cowboys have posted slight declines from last year. That is a departure from earlier in the season, when the first five windows to feature the team increased. Sunday’s dip represents a marked reversal from the overnights, which were up 4%.
The game delivered the fifth-largest NFL audience of the season and tied the fourth-highest rating. The Cowboys have been featured in four of the top five.
Ten NFL windows have exceeded 20 million viewers this season, versus 12 at the same point last year and 18 in 2015. Just one has topped 25 million, compared to three at this point last year and eight in 2015.
For the weekend, the national window finished as the highest rated and most-watched program on television. It topped comfortably topped the second-place show, Game 5 of the World Series (10.5, 18.9M).
Earlier in the day, coverage featuring Bears-Saints in 50% of markets had a 7.3 (-5%) and 12.4 million (-3%).
A complete list of NFL ratings is available here.
[Wknd. numbers via ShowBuzz Daily 10.31, with additional info from Fox Sports]
