Due to the nature of live sports programming the ratings for NBC (Sunday Night Football) and Fox (NFL Overrun) (and possibly a CBS NFL overrun in some markets) are approximate and subject to significant revisions in the final numbers. See below for more information on these Fast Affiliate Ratings.
| Scoreboard |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adults 18-49: Rating/Share | 6.0/15 | 4.6/12 | 3.5/9 | 2.3/6 | 0.8/2 |
| Adults 18-34: Rating/Share | 5.3/15 | 4.9/14 | 2.7/8 | 1.5/4 | 1.8/2 |
| Total Viewers (million) | 16.145 | 10.890 | 11.146 | 10.398 | 2.186 |
NBC didn't need to go for it on 4th down, as the Patriots/Colts Sunday Night Football matchup easily got them the nightly ratings win. Boosted by a football overrun, Fox was a strong second place.
In preliminary numbers, NBC’s Sunday Night Football Game 10: Patriots vs. Colts delivered a 7.5 adults 18-49 rating /18 share from 830-11p, down slightly from Game 8 (Cowboys vs. Eagles) last Sunday, which posted a 7.6 rating /19 share in the Fast Nationals before rising to an 8.5/22 from 8:31-11:50p in the Finals. The Cowboys are a lot easier to beat on the football field than they are in the TV ratings.
Fox can thank the early NFL overrun for its great average from last night. Otherwise, its results were in line with recent results. The Simpsons were up 2% to a 4.2 adults 18-49 rating. The Cleveland Show was up 0.1 ratings point from its off-timed episode last Sunday to a 3.3 rating. Family Guy was flat with last week's 4.1 rating, but that's well below its season average of a 4.6 rating. American Dad was down 6% from its last regular timeslot telecast on October 18 to a 2.9 rating.
ABC's lineup rebounded strongly from last Sunday's lows, with every show up double digits. America's Funniest Home Videos increased 20%+ to a 2.2 adults 18-49 rating. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition was up 20% to a 3.6 rating which is a season high. Desperate Housewives was up 11% to a 49 rating. And Brothers & Sisters was up 10% to a 3.2 rating. ABC drew its biggest non-sports audience on the night (excluding the Oscars) in nearly 1 year and its best Adult 18-49 number in 6 months – since 11/30/08 and 5/17/09, respectively.
CBS' weak late Sunday night bounced up as well, from pitiful to simply weak as Three Rivers was up to a series high 11% to a 2.0 2.1 rating, and Cold Case was up 24% to a 2.1 rating. Big increases, but still weak ratings. The Amazing Race was down 9% to a 3.2 rating, and without a football overrun, 60 Minutes fell way back to earth to a typically weak 2.2 rating.
Update: There are reports that some markets had a CBS football overrun. If so, the CBS numbers are liable to change more than usual in the final numbers.
| Time | Net | Show | 18-49 Rating | 18-49 Share | Viewers Live+SD (million) |
| 7:00 | FOX | NFL Football | 8.0 | 23 | 22.04 |
| NBC | Football Night In America | 2.3 | 6 | 6.497 | |
| CBS | 60 Minutes | 1.9 | 5 | 10.981 | |
| ABC | America's Funniest Home Videos | 1.9 | 5 | 7.407 | |
| 7:30 | FOX | NFL Overrun / The OT | 5.1 | 14 | 12.972 |
| NBC | Football Night In America | 3.0 | 8 | 8.243 | |
| ABC | America's Funniest Home Videos | 2.5 | 7 | 9.559 | |
| CBS | 60 Minutes | 2.4 | 7 | 13.532 | |
| 8:00 | NBC | Football Night In America | 5.3 | 13 | 15.177 |
| FOX | The Simpsons | 4.2 | 10 | 9.041 | |
| ABC | Extreme Makeover: Home Edition | 3.3 | 8 | 10.916 | |
| CBS | Amazing Race | 3.2 | 8 | 12.24 | |
| 8:30 | NBC | Sunday Night Football: New England v. Indianapolis | 8.1 | 19 | 22.227 |
| ABC | Extreme Makeover: Home Edition | 3.9 | 9 | 12.251 | |
| FOX | The Cleveland Show | 3.3 | 8 | 7.011 | |
| CBS | Amazing Race | 3.2 | 8 | 11.049 | |
| 9:00 | NBC | Sunday Night Football: New England v. Indianapolis | 7.5 | 17 | 21.058 |
| ABC | Desperate Housewives | 4.9 | 11 | 14.434 | |
| FOX | Family Guy | 4.1 | 10 | 8.283 | |
| CBS | Three Rivers | 2.1 | 5 | 8.777 | |
| 9:30 | NBC | Sunday Night Football: New England v. Indianapolis | 7.8 | 18 | 20.766 |
| ABC | Desperate Housewives | 4.9 | 12 | 14.267 | |
| FOX | American Dad | 2.9 | 7 | 5.991 | |
| CBS | Three Rivers | 1.8 | 4 | 8.127 | |
| 10:00 | NBC | Sunday Night Football: New England v. Indianapolis | 7.0 | 18 | 17.877 |
| ABC | Brothers & Sisters | 3.3 | 8 | 10.421 | |
| CBS | Cold Case | 2.1 | 5 | 9.434 | |
| 10:30 | NBC | Sunday Night Football: New England v. Indianapolis | 6.9 | 19 | 17.318 |
| ABC | Brothers & Sisters | 3.1 | 9 | 9.915 | |
| CBS | Cold Case | 2.0 | 6 | 9.042 |
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You can see TV ratings from other recent Overnight ratings reports here.
Nielsen TV Ratings: ©2009 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved.
Definitions:
Fast Affiliate Ratings: These first national ratings, including demographics, are available at approximately 11 AM (ET) the day after telecast, and are released to subscribing customers daily. These data, from the National People Meter sample, are strictly time-period information, based on the normal broadcast network feed, and include all programming on the affiliated stations, sometimes including network programming, sometimes not. The figures may include stations that did not air the entire network feed, as well as local news breaks or cutaways for local coverage or other programming. Fast Affiliate ratings are not as useful for live programs and are likely to differ significantly from the final results, because the data reflect normal broadcast feed patterns. For example, with a World Series game, Fast Affiliate Ratings would include whatever aired from 8-11PM on affiliates in the Pacific Time Zone, following the live football game, but not game coverage that begins at 5PM PT. The same would be true of Presidential debates as well as live award shows and breaking news reports.
Rating: Estimated percentage of the universe of TV households (or other specified group) tuned to a program in the average minute. Ratings are expressed as a percent.
Share (of Audience): The percent of households (or persons) using television who are tuned to a specific program, station or network in a specific area at a specific time. (See also, Rating, which represents tuning or viewing as a percent of the entire population being measured.)
Time Shifted Viewing – Program ratings for national sources are produced in three streams of data – Live, Live+Same Day (Live+SD) and Live+7 Day. Time shifted figures account for incremental viewing that takes place with DVRs which are currently in approximately 24.4% of all U.S. TV households. Live+Same Day (Live+SD) include viewing during the same broadcast day as the original telecast, with a cut-off of 3:00AM local time when meters transmit daily viewing to Nielsen for processing. Live+7 Day ratings include incremental viewing that takes place during the 7 days following a telecast.
For more information see Numbers 101 and Numbers 102.
Yay for DH and B&S! Both are up! Best figures since premiere?
nice to see the days of cleveland>simpsons are over, but sad to see FG in the low 4′s.
Also, American Dad below a 3 is pretty bad, even though it is already getting a sixth season.
How can there be less people watch the end of last night’s game than the beginning? That was one of the best ending to a game ever and I thought the ratings would go through the roof.
Any word on how “The Prisoner” did for AMC? I watched & thought it was very well done.
Wow, the Simpsons beat Family Guy, it did have a little help from what came before but nonetheless, very impressive.
Also, American Dad – the best animated comedy of the whole line up – below a 3.0, sad D:
Hey Pisher,
I know you post here and i don’t have an account at pifeedback.
Just saw your comment on how worrisome DH’s ratings are vs last year.
Uh everything is down vs. last year – DVR increased. In year 6 DH is #3 this week behind GA, and HOUSE. I don’t get you comment at all. Shows go down in the ratings as they get older, every show is down, the fact that it is still a top 3 show in year 6, how you can spin that is negative is fascinating to me. Every single network would want DH.
@Chuck C, those are cable numbers, this is broadcast. You’ll probably see them later today.
Apparently people didn’t have faith in Peyton Manning staging a comeback from 17 down =P
If I remember correctly, the game ended somewhere near midnight on the east coast. It could be that it got too late for some people.
About time Simpsons starts to regain itself as the best, kinda ashamed for American Dads ratings, they should be better. Cleveland should be even lower and Family Guy should at least beat the other two MacFarlene shows.
Go Simpsons!
cbs shows last nite here(central time) were 35 mins late …..??
Yay for Desperate Housewives! I think that is a tie in the demos but overall viewership is a season high. I hope the plane crash pulls in 16 million viewers. Housewives deserves it-it is still great TV!!!!!
Yay Housewives!!!!, FOX’s comedies improved compare to last sunday if i’m not wrong, the simpsons help a lot, and I never thought Family Guy would fall, when I saw the season beginning’s numbers
I’m surprised Three Rivers got a 2.0 average- I wonder if it will fall in finals.
@kenny
Simpsons beat Family Guy’s 8:00 ep, this weeks cleveland was below the comedy special, family guy’s 9:00 ep was up and American Dad did worse than the 9:30 Cleveland last week.
How’d the Colts/Pats game compare to the last time the Cowboys played a game on NBC? Was it better rated?
Just as an fyi fox in Cleveland is showing the Monday night game tonight.
Three Rivers despite up from last week is still doing appalling and I think CBS are just not going to extend it beyond 13 episodes and replace it in January.
The Animation Domination seemed down but I am thinkng that is due to the football.
The Cleveland Show the two times I’ve watched it is pretty boring to me.
Reaaly, Jon K? I thought ABC always gets it in every market.
Yes! Simpsons are up!