Sunday Night Football had its biggest drop in overnight ratings this season, but still did well for NBC.
The Week 11 Patriots/Colts Sunday Night Football game drew a 13.6 overnight rating on NBC, down 18% from Chiefs/Broncos last year (16.6) but up 11% from Ravens/Steelers in 2012 (12.2). The 18% decline is the biggest of the season for NBC, and the network’s second-straight double-digit drop.
The Patriots’ 24-point win marked the eighth straight SNF game to be decided by at least 20 points. With that said, even a close game was going to have trouble matching last year’s Chiefs/Broncos clash — one of the highest rated SNF telecasts ever in the metered markets. The Chiefs, as some may recall, entered that game undefeated.
In fact, despite the sizable decline, Patriots/Colts arguably did quite well for NBC. The 13.6 overnight is the network’s highest for SNF in a month — since 49ers/Broncos in Week 7 (14.8) — and the fifth-highest of the season (12 telecasts).
The game also ended a three-week streak in which the NFL singleheader outdrew Sunday Night Football.
Boston was the top market for Sunday’s game with a 40.2 rating, the highest for SNF in the market since December 2010. Indianapolis ranked second with a 37.1, followed by secondary Patriots market Providence at 32.0. Las Vegas (19.2) was the top neutral market, with San Diego (17.1) rounding out the top five.
(Sun. numbers from NBC Sports via The Futon Critic)
