Primetime Ratings: ‘Sunday Night Football’ Down, But Still Wins
By Michael Malone published

NBC grabbed the Sunday broadcast ratings bonanza on the strength of Sunday Night Football, the network scoring a 4.8 rating in 18-49, according to Nielsen’s overnights, with a 14 share. Fox too was strong, thanks to an NFL overrun, at 3.9/11. ABC and CBS scored twin 1.0/3s.
President Obama addressed the nation from 8 to 8:16 p.m. Sunday, pushing prime programming back. Nielsen will reissue live plus same day programming averages Dec. 8.
Sunday Night Football was down 23% from last week, when scores tuned in to watch the then-undefeated New England Patriots.
Fox’s The OT had a 7.1, then The Simpsons scored a 3.0, down 12% from two weeks ago, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine a 2.0, up 54% from when it last aired. Family Guy rated a 1.7, up 21%, and The Last Man on Earth a 1.4, up 17%.
America’s Funniest Home Videos fell 30% to a 0.7 on ABC, then Once Upon a Time ticked up 8% to 1.4. Blood & Oil had a flat 0.9 and Quantico was down 8% at 1.1.
On CBS, 60 Minutes fell 52% without football to a 1.2, then the two-hour Sinatra 100: An All-Star Grammy Concert special rated a 0.8. A Grammy special on Stevie Wonder last winter rated a 1.4.
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.
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