After hitting a ten-year low for its NFL Kickoff Game last Thursday, NBC hit another ten-year low for the season premiere of Sunday Night Football.
Bears-Packers delivered a 12.5 rating and 22.1 million viewers on the Week 1 edition of SNF, down 7% in ratings and 9% in viewership from last year (Giants-Cowboys: 13.4, 24.4M) and down 5% and 4% respectively from 2016 (Patriots-Cardinals: 13.1, 23.1M). Including streaming, the game had 22.5 million.
The Packers’ stirring comeback was the lowest rated Week 1 SNF game since 2008 (Bears-Colts: 11.2) and the least-watched since the same matchup in 2009 (Bears-Packers: 21.1M).
It joined NBC’s Kickoff Game last Thursday in hitting a ten-year ratings low, though it was a much stronger draw than the Falcons-Eagles opener (11.2, 19.0M). This year was the fourth out of the past seven in which NBC’s first Sunday night game outdrew the Kickoff Game.
Despite the lower numbers, Bears-Packers was the NFL’s most-watched primetime game — not involving the Cowboys — since Week 17 of the 2016 season (Packers-Lions: 23.8M).
SNF scored a 7.5 rating in adults 18-49, down 17% from last year (9.1), down 11% from 2016 (8.4) and the series’ lowest Week 1 rating since 2008 (7.4). It had a 5.9 in adults 18-34 (-22%), the lowest in Week 1 since at least 2000. The previous low was a full point higher — a 6.9 in 2008.
Locally, Milwaukee led all markets Sunday night with a whopping 49.6 rating. Chicago was second at a 35.3.
The full list of Week 1 NFL ratings is available here.
Week 1 NFL Primetime Ratings, Viewership, on Broadcast TV
2001-present
[Numbers from Nielsen via ShowBuzz Daily 9.11; additional info from NBC Sports PR/Twitter 9.10]
