TV Ratings: ‘Sunday Night Football’ Ends in a Tie, Everyone Loses
An absolute horrorshow of an NFL game was still good enough to win the broadcast ratings race Sunday night for NBC, yet for NBC execs and viewers, it was a hollow victory. In Nielsen’s preliminary numbers, “Sunday Night Football” notched a 5.4 rating in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic and 15.89 million viewers.
Final numbers won’t come in until later this afternoon, but they may actually adjust up, given that the game was between two West Coast teams, even though the Seattle Seahawks-Arizona Cardinals match-up was a deathly slog to an overtime tie that ended after midnight on the East Coast. Worse, the final score was an abysmal touchdown-less 6-6.
And yet those early ratings are still actually an improvement on the week before, in which “SNF” garnered its lowest number of eyeballs yet. That was a Colts-Texans match-up, an indication that the teams playing are all that really matters when all is said and done, though the absence of a highly anticipated MLB postseason game (the second in the Dodgers-Cubs National League Championship Series) also probably helped last night.
Not helping matters for anyone last night: The Season 7 premiere of “The Walking Dead,” with its big “Who did Negan kill?” reveal. Cable numbers won’t be available until later Monday afternoon, but they’re likely quite large for “Walking Dead.”
On CBS, which had the benefit of a Patriots-Steelers match-up bleeding into its Sunday lineup, “60 Minutes” drew a 3.2 demo and 16.1 million viewers overall. “NCIS: Los Angeles” weighed in with a 1.7 demo and 11.43 million. “Madam Secretary” drew a 1.1 and 8.9 million. And “Elementary” came in with a 0.8 demo and 5.99 million, though that only takes into account the 10:30 p.m. half-hour. These are all subject to revision after football overrun is discounted.
On ABC, “Once Upon a Time” continued to slide with a 1.0 in the demo and 3.35 million viewers. “Secrets and Lies” drew an unpleasant 0.7 in the demo and 3.12 million overall. “Quantico” came in with a 0.7 as well, and 2.78 million viewers.
On Fox, “Bob’s Burgers” drew a 1.6 demo rating and 3.76 million viewers. “The Simpsons” led at 8 p.m., drawing a 1.6 and 3.41 million. “Son of Zorn” came in with a 1.0 and 2.34 million. “Family Guy” drew a 1.2 and 2.53 million. “The Last Man on Earth” drew a 0.9 and 2.08 million. Some local football overrun may lead to adjustments for these numbers as well.
Other weekend ratings:
On Friday night, CBS had its usual lineup of “MacGyver” (1.1, 7.99 million), “Hawaii Five-0” (1.1, 9.3 million), and “Blue Bloods” (1.1, 9.86 million). ABC had new installments of “Last Man Standing” (1.1, 6.37 million), “Dr. Ken” (0.8, 4.47 million), “Shark Tank” (1.2, 5.36 million), and “20/20” (0.9, 4.07 million). Fox had a new “Hell’s Kitchen” (1.0, 3.32 million) and “The Exorcist” (0.8, 2.05 million).
The CW had its final season premieres of the fall with “The Vampire Diaries” (0.4, 1.06 million) and “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” (0.2, 540,000).
Saturday’s “Saturday Night Live,” hosted by Tom Hanks with musical guest Lady Gaga, drew its biggest metered market overnight rating for an October episode in eight years, with a 3.0 demo rating and a 6.1 household rating. (The 2008 episode was a potent Jon Hamm/Coldplay combo on Oct. 25.)
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