Primetime Ratings: Giants-Cowboys Puts NBC on Top
Cowboys/Giants help NBC gain top spot, while The CW trailed behind CBS, ABC, and FOX
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 12/15/2008 6:51:00 AM MT
NBC won the Nielsen overnight ratings Sunday, thanks to the clash between Eastern Division NFC rivals the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants, the latter based in the nation's top TV market.
NBC averaged a 6.2/15 for the night, which included the pre-game show run-up, easily defeating the competition.
But CBS has a strong night, too, thanks to the three-hour finale extravaganza that was Survivor: Gabon. The network averaged a 4.9/12, with Survivor's 4.3/10 average boosted by the whopping 8.1/5 boost it got out of its own football game, the 8-8:30 overrun from its afternoon NFL contest.
It as NBC, CBS, then everybody else, with third-place ABC averaging a 2.3/6, led by movie, The Santa Clause, at 8-10 with a 2.7/7.
Fox was fourth with a 2.1/for an all-repeat lineup of its Sunday night animated sitcoms.
Actually it was NBC and CBS, then ABC and Fox. The CW was a distant fifth with a .4/1. But, like Fox, that was for an all-repeat lineup, with the nets essentially conceding the night to the power of football and Survivor.
