A marquee matchup of star quarterbacks lifted NBC’s Sunday Night Football ratings to an NFL season-high.
Packers-Patriots earned a 13.7 rating and 23.7 million viewers on the Week 9 edition of NBC’s Sunday Night Football, up 59% in ratings and 65% in viewership from last year (Raiders-Dolphins: 8.6, 14.4M) and up 32% and 29% respectively from 2016 (Broncos-Raiders: 10.4, 18.3M).
New England’s win ranks as the highest rated and most-watched NFL telecast of the season, topping the previous marks of 13.1 and 23.3 million for the Week 1 national window on FOX (mostly Cowboys-Panthers).
It also ranks as the most-watched television program since the Academy Awards in March (26.5M), and the most-watched sports program since the Opening Ceremony of the Winter Olympics in February (27.8M).
In addition, it delivered the highest rated primetime NFL rating since Week 14 of the 2016 season (Cowboys-Giants: 14.9) and the largest audience since Week 1 last year (Giants-Cowboys: 24.4M).
Among Week 9 primetime games, Packers-Patriots was the highest rated since 2006 (Colts-Patriots: 13.9) and the most-watched since 1989 — Saints-49ers on ABC’s Monday Night Football exactly 29 years ago today (24.6M). That was the 49ers’ first home game since the Loma Prieta earthquake.
Including the streaming audience on NFL and NBC digital platforms (400K), Packers-Patriots had 24.1 million viewers (+66%).
Sunday marked the second career meeting between Patriots QB Tom Brady and Packers QB Aaron Rodgers. Their first meeting, in Week 13 of the 2014 season, had a 17.6 and 30.9 million on CBS. No regular season game since has had a higher rating.
Packers-Patriots scored a 7.4 rating in adults 18-49, up 51% from last year (4.9) and up 12% from 2016 (6.6), and the highest for SNF in Week 9 since 2015 (8.4). The 7.4 is tied as the second-highest of the season, trailing only Bears-Packers on SNF in Week 1 (7.5).
Ratings also hit three-year highs in adults 18-34 (5.8, +45%) and adults 25-54 (8.7, +53%).
Through nine weeks, NBC’s NFL coverage is averaging 19.7 million viewers across TV and streaming — up 8% from last year (18.3M) and the highest at this point of the season since 2015 (23.6M).
The full list of Week 9 NFL ratings is available on the Sports Media Watch NFL ratings page.
