With the last three Super Bowl Champions playing on national television Sunday, the ’05 and ’06 champs combined to draw the biggest rating of the weekend.
CBS drew a 15.5/29 overnight rating for the Colts’ victory over the Steelers Sunday evening, down 9% from a 17.1/32 for last year’s comparable Cowboys/Giants game on FOX, but the highest overnight rating of the year for an NFL telecast on CBS.
The 15.5 also marks the fourth-highest overnight rating overall for an NFL game this season, behind last week’s Cowboys/Giants game (16.8), Cowboys/Cardinals in October (16.1), and Giants/Steelers two weeks ago (15.6). The three prior games aired on FOX.
The first game of the CBS doubleheader drew a 10.4/22 overnight from 1-4:15 PM Sunday, up 12% from a 9.3 for the lone CBS game a year ago.
Meanwhile, the defending champion Giants’ victory over the Eagles drew a 12.4/20 overnight rating on NBC Sunday night, down 2% from a 12.7 for Colts/Chargers on the comparable date last year.
On FOX, singleheader action drew a 9.5/20 overnight rating, down 9% from a 10.4/22 for early game coverage a year ago, when the network aired a doubleheader.
Overall, NFL coverage averaged a 12.0 rating in four broadcast windows across CBS, FOX and NBC, down 3% from a 12.4 last year.
Highest overnight ratings for NFL games this season.
16.8: Cowboys/Giants (Sun., 11/2, 4:15 PM FOX)
16.1: Cowboys/Cardinals (Sun., 10/12, 4:15 PM FOX)
15.6: Giants/Steelers (Sun., 10/26, 4:15 PM FOX)
15.5: Colts/Steelers (Sun., 11/9, 4:15 PM CBS)
15.3: Washington/Cowboys (Sun., 9/28, 4:15 PM FOX)
