Primetime Ratings: NBC Wins as Patriots-Texans Does Big Number

NBC was the big winner in Sunday prime, with Sunday Night Football leading to a 4.7 rating in viewers 18-49, per the Nielsen overnights, and a 20 share. That easily beat CBS’ 1.5/7.

Football Night in America dropped 4% to 2.5 on NBC and the pre-game posted a flat 4.6. Patriots versus Texans, a rare loss for the New Englanders, did a 5.5. That was 15% better than Packers versus Niners the week before.

On CBS, it was an NFL game creeping into prime. 60 Minutes got a 1.9, way better than the 0.7 it did with no football lead-in last week. NCIS: Los Angeles went up 17% to 0.7 and Madam Secretary scored a level 0.4.

ABC did a 0.6/3 and Fox a 0.6/2. On ABC, America’s Funniest Home Videos did a flat 0.8 and special Santa Claus Is Coming to Town a 0.7. Shark Tank posted a 0.6 and The Rookie a 0.5, those two flat.

On Fox, The Simpsons got a 0.7 (it did a 1.8 with an NFL lead-in last week) and special Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas a 0.5. Bob’s Burgers and Family Guy both scored a 0.6, the pair down 33% from last week.

Univision rated a 0.3/1 and Telemundo a 0.2/1. It was 0.3s for Aqui Y Ahora, special Nuestra Navidad and Futbol Mexicano Primera Division on Univision. Aqui was down a tenth.

Telemundo had an Exatlon Estados Unidos special, then the film Creed, both at 0.2.

The CW got a 0.2/1. Batwoman rated a 0.3 and Supergirl a 0.2, both shows flat. 

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.