A Cowboys rivalry game topped the NFL Week 8 ratings charts.
Sunday’s Dallas-Washington NFL national window earned a 15.3 overnight rating on FOX, up 4% from Packers-Falcons last year (14.7) but down 22% from Seahawks-Cowboys in 2015 (19.5). The 15.3 is the highest NFL overnight since the Week 2 national window (feat. DAL-DEN: 16.1).
The Cowboys’ win was the top sporting event of the weekend, topping Game 5 of the World Series immediately afterward (12.8).
Later in the night, Steelers-Lions delivered a 9.4 overnight on NBC’s Sunday Night Football — down 19% from Eagles-Cowboys last year (11.6) and down 34% from Packers-Broncos in 2015 (14.3).
The Steelers’ win was topped head-to-head by the aforementioned World Series game, marking the second straight year — and the seventh time since NBC began airing SNF in 2006 — that baseball has beaten Sunday Night Football.
The 9.4 is the lowest of the season for SNF, the lowest for SNF in Week 8 since NBC acquired rights (it did not air a Week 8 game from 2007-09), the lowest for SNF opposite the World Series since 2011, and the second-lowest for any SNF game since 2011.
In other action, FOX earned an 8.6 overnight for its early doubleheader window, which featured Bears-Saints in half of TV markets — down 4% from last year (feat. SEA-NO: 9.0) and down 21% from 2015 (feat. NYG-NO: 10.9).
CBS had an 9.1 for its singleheader (-12%) but that comes with a major caveat — Boston and Hartford were excluded due to inclement weather. As Sports Business Daily noted, CBS aired a Patriots game in 48% of markets.
[Wknd. numbers via Sports Business Daily 10.30]
