Despite a 37-point beatdown that CBS eventually cut away from in most of the country, Cowboys-Vikings helped the network to its largest NFL audience of the season.
Sunday’s NFL national window — featuring Cowboys 40, Vikings 3 in 90% of markets — averaged a 13.7 rating and 27.55 million viewers on CBS, the network’s largest audience of the season and the second-largest overall. The previous week’s national window on FOX, featuring the Cowboys against another NFC North opponent in Green Bay, holds the top spot with 29.17 million.
The Cowboys have headlined the three most-watched windows of the season, with the Week 2 national window (Dallas-Cincinnati in most markets) ranking third at 27.39 million.
Despite the strong numbers, ratings and viewership actually dropped from last year’s comparable window on FOX, which featured Cowboys-Chiefs in most markets (14.4, ~28M). It was still the most-watched Week 11 window on CBS since the network resumed airing NFL games in 1998.
While most of the country got Cowboys-Vikings, CBS switched nearly all markets to the Bengals-Steelers game when Dallas’ lead got out of hand in the second half.
Earlier in the day, coverage featuring Eagles-Colts in 52% of markets averaged a 7.9 and 15.26 million — down double-digits from last year on FOX, but the most-watched CBS regional window in the month of November since 2016. CBS is now averaging 18.01 million viewers for the season, its highest 11-week average since 2015.
In other Week 11 action, NBC averaged a 9.5 and 17.89 million for Chiefs-Chargers on Sunday Night Football — up from Steelers-Chargers last year (8.05, ~14.6M). After five of its first six telecasts this season declined (on a linear basis), NBC has posted increases in four of the past six weeks.
Over on FOX, singleheader action featuring Lions-Giants or Bears-Falcons in most markets pulled an 8.0 and 15.56 million — up 32% in ratings and more than a third in viewership from last year on CBS (ft. Ravens-Bears: 6.0, ~11.2M).
Shifting to weeknight action, ESPN’s Monday Night Football (49ers-Cardinals from Mexico) averaged a 5.9 and 11.17 million — the network’s lowest rated and least-watched Week 11 game in five years (2017 Falcons-Seahawks: 6.4, 10.82M).
As previously noted, Amazon’s Thursday Night Football posted its largest audience in weeks last Thursday night.
(Nielsen estimates from ShowBuzz Daily 11.22, Programming Insider 11.22)
