The NFL had arguably its strongest Sunday of the season in the overnight ratings.
Sunday’s Week 14 NFL national window, featuring Eagles-Cowboys in 84% of markets, had a 16.0 overnight rating on FOX — even with last year (mostly Eagles-Rams: 16.0) and up 2% from 2016 (mostly Seahawks-Packers: 15.7).
The 16.0 is the highest of the NFL season, edging the previous mark of 15.9 set by the same window the previous week (mostly Vikings-Patriots). FOX has aired the season’s top three games in the metered markets.
The 16.0 is also the highest for the Eagles-Cowboys rivalry since Week 2 of the 2015 season (17.8).
In primetime, Rams-Bears delivered a 13.0 overnight on NBC’s Sunday Night Football — up 12% from last year (Ravens-Steelers: 11.6) but down 21% from Cowboys-Giants in 2016 (16.5).
It was NBC’s ninth game this season with at least a 13.0 overnight, more-than-doubling all of last season (four), and also ahead of 2016 (eight).
Shifting to the afternoon windows, CBS scored an 11.0 for a singleheader window that included several close games — up 28% from last year (8.6) but down 3% from 2016 (11.3). The 11.0 is the highest for a CBS singleheader since the aforementioned 2016 window.
Finally, FOX scored a 10.5 for the first half of its doubleheader, which featured Saints-Buccaneers or Giants-Washington in most markets — up 1% from last year, when coverage featured Cowboys-Giants (10.4). The 10.5 is the highest for the window in Week 14 since 2015 (10.9).
[Numbers from Fox Sports PR/Twitter 12.10, NBC Sports PR, CBS Sports PR]
