‘Sunday Night Football’ Ratings Steady, ‘Revenge’ Fall Finale Down From 2013, CBS & Fox Hit With NFL Overruns
It was a good night for the New England Patriots as they beat the San Diego Chargers 23-14 to stay atop the AFC – that 69-yard touchdown pass by Tom Brady to Julian Edelman certainly didn’t hurt to secure the team’s eighth win in nine games. It was a steady night for Sunday Night Football (6.1/16), even with a reasonably dramatic game and no The Walking Dead to face over on cable. With a total viewership of 18.17 million, last night’s NBC game was down a slight 3% among adults 18-49 from the fast nationals of the November 30 broadcast. That Denver Broncos-Kansas City Chiefs game last week, which saw Walking Dead beat SNF for the fifth time this season, went up to 7.4/19 in final numbers.
Last night’s SNF numbers will change in the final ratings too, but the metered market results look steady. Last night’s game got a 13.9/22 MM rating from 8:30-11:30 PM. That’s up 5% from last week’s matchup. Last night’s game was also up 9% from the comparable game on December 8 last year. That Carolina Panthers-New Orleans Saints meeting ended up with a 6.9/17 rating and viewership of 19.065 million. We’ll see how this week’s SNF does later, but as it is NBC took the night in the demo and total viewers with a 5.0/14 rating and 15.23 million watching.
There was one network with no football on last night and that was ABC. With a bit of a minor
ratings roller-coaster, the network saw America’s Funniest Home Videos (1.3/4) bop up 8% from last week while Once Upon A Time (2.0/5) dipped 5%. The second half of the night was much more gravity-resisting, with Resurrection (1.0/3) rising 11% and the midseason finale of Revenge (1.2/3) up a solid 20% from last week’s series low. Having said that, even with a big character death, the primetime soap saw its Season 4 fall finale down 20% from the Season 3 fall finale of December 15. 2013. Revenge is back for the rest of its fourth season on January 4.
As has been common this fall, CBS’ Sunday night lineup was scrambled by NFL overruns. In this case, the network’s primetime was pushed back nearly 20 minutes in New Orleans, St Louis, Kansas City, Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, Indianapolis, Charlotte, Nashville, Knoxville, Tampa and a few other markets. All of which means CBS’ numbers are again tentative and will certainly see adjustments.
For the sake of the math, here are the fast nationals on CBS as they stand: 60 Minutes (1.7/5) started things off, presently down 31% from last week. Then there was the annual I Love Lucy Christmas Special (1.4/5), even with last year’s broadcast; The Mentalist (1.1/3), which fell 31% from its final-season debut November 30; and CSI (1.2/3), wrapping up the night down 14% from last week.
Fox was also full of NFL overruns so its inflated numbers are all over the shop as well. To prove that point, 8 PM The Simpsons (2.8/8) is currently up 87% over its last original November 23. Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2.1/6) is up 50% from last week among the key demo,Family Guy (2.2/6) even with its last original of November 16, and Bob’s Burgers (1.6/4) is up 60% from last week. Like CBS, expect adjustments in the final numbers.
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'Sunday Night Football' Ratings Down, 'Bob's Burgers' Up, 'Revenge' & 'Mulaney' Fall
'Sunday Night Football' Ratings Beat 'The Walking Dead' After Three Weeks
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