The 2018 NFL season finished on a down note for NBC, but still delivered the network’s first increase in three years.
Colts-Titans scored a 9.3 rating and 16.1 million viewers on the season finale of NBC’s Sunday Night Football, down 28% in ratings and 33% in viewership from Packers-Lions two years ago (13.0, 23.8M). NBC did not carry a Week 17 game last year.
The Colts’ win was the lowest rated and least-watched Week 17 primetime game in a decade — since Chargers-Broncos in 2008 (9.0, 14.9M).
It also ranks as the second-lowest rated and third-least watched game on NBC this season.
The game had a 4.5 rating in adults 18-49, tying a season-low. The 4.5 is the lowest for a primetime Week 17 game since the 2005-06 season on ESPN (3.4). Ratings in adults 18-34 (3.2) were also the lowest since the 2005-06 season (2.7). In adults 25-54, the 5.6 rating was the lowest since 2006 (5.5).
Indianapolis led all markets with a 38.6 rating, followed by Nashville (29.9). New Orleans was the top neutral market at a 17.5, with Memphis (15.2) and Kansas City (14.9) rounding out the top five.
Despite the poor ending, NBC finished the season averaging an 11.0 rating and 19.3 million viewers — up 7% in ratings and 6% in viewership from last year (10.3, 18.2M), but down 4% and 5% respectively from 2016 (11.4, 20.3M). This season marked just the second time since 2010 that ratings have increased for Sunday Night Football.
As with FOX and CBS, the positive trend does not mean the numbers are back to the norm of earlier this decade. This year’s averages were the second-lowest on NBC since 2008 (10.2, 16.6M).
In an era of declining ratings for most programs, the NFL does not have to get back to the halcyon days of the mid-2010s in order to dominate the competition. This season, SNF beat its primetime competition by 28% in ratings and 35% in viewership, the widest margins since the series moved to NBC in 2006.
Overall, the complete NFL season averaged 15.76 million viewers across all networks, a figure that does not include the league’s early morning windows from London (+5%).
[Numbers from NBC Sports Group Press Box 1.2]
