Primetime Ratings: Giants Win Spells Giant Win for Fox

NFC Championship Game from Green Bay Crushes Competition on Sunday Night

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 1/21/2008 2:09:00 PM

Even with the caveat that the numbers for live events like football can change after the final national ratings come in, Fox dominated and then some Sunday night with its coverage of the overtime victory by the New York Giants in the National Football Conference Championship game.

The game -- a throwback to bygone days with two storied franchises, the Giants and Green Bay Packers, battling it out in sub-zero temperatures in Wisconsin -- garnered an average 18.6 rating/40 share (yes, a 40 share) in the 18-49 demo for Fox, which, combined with the kind of ratings it gets for American Idol, makes it a virtual lock for the weekly ratings win before the week is even wet behind the ears.

According to the Nielsen Media Research overnight numbers, Fox averaged three times the combined average of the competition, which totaled a 6.2/13 on the night.

ABC did the best against the National Football League juggernaut at a 2.8/6, with two hours worth of Extreme Makevover: Home Edition, which managed an impressive 4.3/9 from 9 p.m.-10 p.m. opposite the game.

CBS was third with a 2/4, with its best showing a 3.1/7 for Amazing Race from 8 p.m.-9 p.m.

NBC didn't have much going, averaging a 1.2/3 on a night when its NFL game during the regular season usually produces some strong ratings. NBC's top show was actually the second hour of a repeat of theatrical Runaway Bride.

The CW hardly registered a pulse at a 0.2/0 (which doesn't mean it had no share, just not enough to register). It never managed more than a 0.3 rating and came close to falling off the chart with Aliens in America at a 0.1/0 from 8:30 p.m.-9 p.m.