Week 16 NFL ratings hit multiple multi-year highs in the metered markets.
Sunday’s Steelers-Saints NFL national window delivered a 15.3 overnight rating on CBS, up 13% from last year (mostly Seahawks-Cowboys: 13.5) and up 74% from 2016* (mostly Buccaneers-Saints: 8.8), both of which aired on FOX.
The 15.3 is the highest NFL overnight in Week 16 of the season since 2015 (mostly Packers-Cardinals: 16.8).
While a high-quality game pitting a traditional power against the NFC leaders, Steelers-Saints fell well short of a season-high. The high-water mark is a 16.5 for Patriots-Steelers the previous week. The 15.3 is tied as the seventh-highest overnight of the season.
In other action, Chiefs-Seahawks scored a 12.6 overnight on NBC’s Sunday Night Football — up 40% from Vikings-Packers on a Saturday night last year (9.0) and up 13% from Chiefs-Broncos on Christmas night in 2016 (11.2).
Seattle’s win delivered the highest Week 16 SNF overnight since 2014, when Seahawks-Cardinals had a 12.8.
Sunday’s game was the 13th of the past 16 on NBC to post an increase in the metered markets.
Shifting to the afternoon windows, FOX scored a 10.1 for singleheader coverage featuring Buccaneers-Cowboys in 46% of markets — up 5% from last year (ft. Patriots-Bills: 9.6) and up 26% from 2016 (ft. Jets-Patriots: 8.0), both of which aired on CBS. The 10.1 is the highest for the Week 16 singleheader since 2015 (11.0).
Overnights were not immediately available for the early doubleheader window on CBS.
Nor were overnights available for NFL Network’s Saturday doubleheader of Washington-Tennessee and Ravens-Chargers, which earned fast-national ratings of 3.6 (+16%) and 4.55, respectively.
[Numbers from NBC Sports, CBS Sports PR/Twitter 12.24]
