Though down from last year, Sunday’s battle between Peyton Manning‘s Colts and Eli Manning‘s Giants put up strong numbers for NBC.
NBC drew a 15.2 overnight rating for Giants/Colts on Sunday night, down 8% from Giants/Cowboys in Week 2 last year (16.5), but up 28% from Steelers/Browns in Week 2 in 2008 (11.9).
Overnight ratings peaked at a 17.0 from 9-9:30 PM ET.
The previous meeting between the Manning brothers (Week 1 in 2006) drew a 14.7 overnight, also on NBC Sunday Night Football.
The 15.2 overnight is the sixth-highest for a regular season NFL telecast on NBC since the network resumed airing coverage in 2006. Three of the six top overnights have come in the first two weeks of this season.
Despite the strong numbers, Sunday Night Football was not the top NFL telecast window of the day, falling behind the national window on CBS.
(NBC press release via Fang’s Bites)
