Primetime Ratings: Pats Lose, NBC Wins

The Patriots fell, as did the Denver snow, but NBC was the big winner, taking the Sunday broadcast title with Sunday Night Football scoring a noisy 6.2 rating in viewers 18-49, per Nielsen overnights, and a 17 share. That includes the pre-game progam.

CBS rode an NFL overrun to a second place finish at 3.0/8, then ABC at 1.1/3 and Fox at 0.7/2.

NBC’s Sunday Night Football telecast was up 26% over last week, with the previously undefeated New England Patriots drawing abundant interest.

CBS’ 60 Minutes averaged a 2.5, 67% up on last week’s figure thanks to football and some breathtaking visuals of skiing/parachuting down the Eiger peak in the Swiss Alps. Madam Secretary was up 9% to 1.2, and The Good Wife showed a flat 0.9.

ABC’s America’s Funniest Home Videos was down 9% at 1.0, then Once Upon a Time rated a 1.3, down 19% from two weeks ago. Blood & Oil was up 13% to a 0.9 while Quantico was down 8% from two weeks ago to 1.2. ABC ran the American Music Awards the previous Sunday.  

Fox featured Breakthrough Prize’15 at a 0.4, followed by repeats.

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.