Primetime Ratings: Football Leads NBC to Win
By Michael Malone published

NBC took a ratings-rich Sunday title, posting a 4.9 rating in viewers 18-49, and a 17 share. That topped CBS’ 2.6/9.
With much of the country discussing football, and President Trump’s take on the players who don’t stand for the national anthem, NBC’s Football Night in America grew 45% to 3.2, while Sunday Night Football fell 17% to 5.3.
On CBS, an NFL overrun did a 5.5 and 60 Minutes a 2.5, up 92%. The network had the Emmys the week before. The premiere of Star Trek: Discovery, starting at 8:48, did a 1.6. There were 9.6 million total viewers. After last night’s series premiere, episodes will now debut on CBS All Access. Repeats of NCIS: Los Angeles and Madam Secretary closed out prime.
Fox did a 1.0/4. Repeated comedies led into Who Shot Biggie and Tupac? at 1.1.
ABC was at 0.8/3. A repeat of America’s Funniest Home Videos did a 0.7, then Celebrity Family Feud rated a 1.0. The finale of Steve Harvey’s Funderdome went up 33% to 0.8 while the finale of $100,000 Pyramid grew 20% to 0.6.
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.
The smarter way to stay on top of broadcasting and cable industry. Sign up below.
Thank you for signing up to Broadcasting & Cable. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.