via NBC Sports release:
GIANTS-COWBOYS DELIVERS BEST "Sunday Night Football" OVERNIGHT RATING EVER
Best Overnight For Primetime NFL Game in 11 Years
SNF Game 65% Higher than Emmy Awards
NEW YORK Sept. 21, 2009 Last night's Giants-Cowboys game on NBC Sports had the best overnight rating ever for a "Sunday Night Football" game. The Giants 33-31 victory, in the unveiling of the new $1.2 billion Cowboys Stadium, earned a 16.5 overnight rating and 27 share (8:30-11:45 p.m. ET), the best overnight rating for a primetime NFL game in 11 years.
CRUSHED EMMYS: For the third straight year, "Sunday Night Football" delivered a convincing victory while competing head-to-head with "television's biggest night," the Emmy Awards. While the Emmys were up versus a year ago, SNF still out-rated the Awards show on CBS by 65 percent (16.5 vs. 10.0).
Head-to-head from 8:30-11 p.m., "Sunday Night Football" out-rated the Emmy Awards by a 71-percent margin (16.6/26 vs. 9.7/15).
NBC averaged a 12.8/21 from 7-11 p.m. in metered-market households. It's NBC's highest Sunday average, excluding the Super Bowl and Olympics, since January 25, 2004 and the highest Sunday night average for any network in the metered markets since February 22 (Academy Awards on ABC).
SNF game had the best overnight primetime rating on any network since the American Idol finale on May 20.
BEST EVER ON SNF; BEST PRIMTIME NFL IN 11 YEARS: Last night's game earned an overnight rating of a 16.5/27, the best overnight rating ever for a "Sunday Night Football" game and the best overnight rating for any primetime NFL game in 11 years (Broncos-Dolphins, 17.4/27 on Dec. 21, 1998).
TOP 5 "Sunday Night Football" OVERNIGHT RATING/SHARE EVER:
1. 9/20/09, Giants-Cowboys, 16.5/27
2. 11/25/07, Eagles-Patriots, 15.6/24
3. 12/14/08, Giants-Cowboys, 15.4/24
4. 11/5/06, Colts-Patriots, 15.1/22
5. 9/10/06, Colts-Giants, 14.7/23 ("Manning Bowl")BIG EVENT STRATEGY: NBC Sports once again employed its "Big Event" strategy for this game, with Matt Lauer and Al Roker dispatched to Dallas where they hosted the TODAY Show live from the new stadium, and, CNBC and Access Hollywood contributed segments about the game and the stadium in the days leading up to Sunday Night.
TOP 15 METERED MARKETS FOR GIANTS-COWBOYS:
1. Dallas, 41.7/61
2. San Antonio, 30.4/43
3. Austin, 25.6/41
4. Las Vegas, 24.3/37
5. New Orleans, 21.9/30
6. Richmond, 21.4/33
7. Albuquerque, 20.9/33
8. Memphis, 20.7/28
9. Oklahoma City, 20.2/29
10. Norfolk, 20.0/31
11. Nashville, 19.8/28
12. Washington, D.C., 19.5/34
T13. New York, 19.3/31
T13. Charlotte, 19.3/30
15. Denver, 19.0/31
Just capped off a huge week for the peacock network. A last second field goal had to help.
William, one *big* reason the averages for the game were so high was that it was so close. The ratings were remarkably stable during the entire primetime portion of the telecast (which is all we have half hour numbers for).
What a surprise? Wonder why they even telecast the Emmy Awards opposite football. Nothing does well opposite football. I might have watched the game if the right teams were playing. I hate Dallas (old time Redskins fan) so I was happy when I read the outcome of the game.
“the best overnight rating for a primetime NFL game in 11 years”
didn’t the 16-0 in 2007 game that was simulast amongst the NFL network and the broadcast networks have a higher rating than this? I seem to recall it being up over 30 million viewers for the average. Or does it not count because of the simulcast, as each network that aired it would only receive about a quarter of the total audience, and cable networks aren’t included in overnight ratings.
Also, do playoff games count? Does the superbowl and other similarly scheduled games count as primetime?
Tricky aren’t we, NBC PR team?
Godfather, dave,
It would not surprise me if playoff games were excluded, I am sure the Super Bowl was.
Those numbers (from last night) are very good but not extraordinary for the Sunday late afternoon “national” game. Those telecasts are often the most viewed TV programs of the week, but since their numbers arrive to us on a delayed schedule (and nobody else bothers with them either) they are typically left out of the “biggest of the week” lists, which are limited typically to primetime.
I am sure the teams involved had a big impact. We have a post on the site (now difficult to find because of some site changes), showing how the Cowboys drive up primetime ratings, and that the #2 team for ratings behind the Cowboys is the Giants. That plus the new stadium and it was a perfect football ratings storm!
pretty sure, though not 100% this is the post you meant… search “Cowboys Nielsen Wire” easy!
http://tvbythenumbers.com/2008/12/19/love-em-or-hate-em-dallas-cowboys-are-americas-tv-team/9845
That is the post! And your search cleverness > mine!