Primetime Ratings: Football Down But NBC Still Wins Easily

NBC won big in Sunday’s prime ratings, with Sunday Night Football leading the network to a 4.0 in viewers 18-49, per the Nielsen overnights, and a 15 share. In second was Fox at 2.0/7.

On NBC, Football Night in America was down 21% for a 1.9 and the pre-game show fell 13% to 4.0. The game, Steelers versus Chargers, was off 11% for a 4.8. Last week’s game was the Packers versus the Vikings.

On Fox, an NFL overrun led into The OT at 2.6, then The Simpsons went up a whopping 78% to 1.6. Bob’s Burgers grew 33% for a 1.2. Family Guy was 1.1, before Rel scored a 0.6, both comedies flat.

CBS had a 1.1/4 and ABC a 0.7/3. On CBS, 60 Minutes lost 38% for a 1.3 and Garth: Live at Notre Dame! did a 1.3 from 8 to 10 p.m. An NCIS: Los Angeles repeat finished up prime.

ABC was at 0.7/3. America’s Funniest Home Videos slid 11% for a 0.8 and Dancing with the Stars Junior notched a flat 0.6. Shark Tank scored a level 0.7 and Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show a 0.9. Victoria’s Secret did a 0.2 last year on The CW.

Univision did a 0.6/2, thanks in part to the Nuestra Belleza Latina finale, and Telemundo a 0.4/1.

The CW scored a 0.3/1. Supergirl got a 0.4 and Charmed a 0.3, both up a tenth of a point. 

Michael Malone

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.