Week 3 of the NFL season brought declines to NBC, CBS and ESPN, with only FOX emerging unscathed.
The Week 3 NFL singleheader, featuring Packers/Bengals in 33% of markets, earned a 13.3 overnight rating on FOX Sunday — up 9% from coverage featuring Buccaneers/Cowboys last year (12.2), and up 6% from coverage on CBS in 2011 (12.5).
The 13.3 overnight is the highest of the young season for the NFL singleheader window.
The other NFL telecasts in Week 3 — not including the Thursday night game — each had declines.
The NFL national window on CBS, featuring Colts/49ers, earned a 14.6 overnight on Sunday afternoon — down 2% from coverage featuring Texans/Broncos last year (14.9), and down 8% from coverage featuring Packers/Bears on FOX in 2011 (15.8).
The CBS early game drew a 7.7, down a whopping 33% from last year (11.4), and down 19% from coverage featuring Giants/Eagles on FOX two years ago (9.5).
Moving to primetime, NBC drew a 13.5 overnight for the Bears/Steelers “Sunday Night Football” game, down 6% from Patriots/Ravens last year (14.3), but up 2% from Steelers/Colts in 2011 (13.2). Every game on NBC this season has had a decline in overnights.
ESPN scored a 10.3 overnight for Raiders/Broncos on “Monday Night Football,” down 10% from last year’s infamous Packers/Seahawks game (11.5), and down 13% from Washington/Cowboys in 2011 (11.9).
As is usually the case, overnights were not available for “Thursday Night Football” on NFL Network.
(Week 3 overnights from Sports Business Daily, ESPN)
