Due to the nature of live sports programming the ratings for NBC (Sunday Night Football) CBS and Fox (NFL overruns) 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 | 4.5/12 | 4.4/12 | 3.8/10 | 1.7/5 | 1.0/3 |
| Adults 18-34: Rating/Share | 3.8/12 | 4.2/13 | 2.3/7 | 2.3/7 | 1.1/3 |
| Total Viewers (million) | 12.998 | 10.793 | 13.343 | 6.285 | 2.518 |
Of course, Sunday Night Football put NBC into the ratings winners circle on Sunday night, but a big NFL overrun into primetime made Fox a close second. While the finale of Survivor: Samoa couldn't keep up with Brett Favre, its ratings were even with last fall's finale.
The Survivor: Samoa finale delivered a 4.4 adults 18-49 rating which is even with its Fall 2008 finale on 12/14/08, and the special Survivor reunion show's 3.9 rating was up 3% from the same Fall '08 reunion show. 60 Minutes was below its season average. There was an NFL overrun on CBS in parts of the country as well.
NBC’s Sunday Night Football Game 15: Vikings vs. Panthers delivered a 5.6 adults 18-49 ratingfrom 830-11p, down from last week’s Game 14 (Eagles vs. Giants) which posted a 7.0 rating in the Fast Nationals before rising to a 7.8 rating from 8:31-11:51p in the Finals.
| Time | Net | Show | 18-49 Rating | 18-49 Share | Viewers Live+SD (million) |
| 7:00 | FOX | NFL overrun | 7.1 | 21 | 20.103 |
| CBS | 60 Minutes | 2.5 | 7 | 12.889 | |
| NBC | Football Night In America | 1.8 | 5 | 5.724 | |
| ABC | America's Funniest Home Videos (repeat) | 1.4 | 4 | 6.289 | |
| 7:30 | FOX | NFL overrun | 7.0 | 20 | 19.084 |
| CBS | 60 Minutes | 2.3 | 7 | 13.210 | |
| NBC | Football Night In America | 2.3 | 7 | 6.891 | |
| ABC | America's Funniest Home Videos (repeat) | 2.0 | 6 | 7.709 | |
| 8:00 | NBC | Football Night In America | 4.2 | 11 | 12.466 |
| CBS | Survivor: Samoa (finale) | 4.1 | 11 | 14.093 | |
| FOX | The Simpsons (repeat) | 3.8 | 10 | 8.224 | |
| ABC | Santa Clause 3 (movie) | 1.7 | 5 | 6.756 | |
| 8:30 | NBC | Sunday Night Football: Minnesota v. Carolina | 5.1 | 13 | 15.166 |
| CBS | Survivor: Samoa (finale) | 4.3 | 11 | 13.821 | |
| FOX | The Cleveland Show (repeat) | 2.8 | 7 | 5.917 | |
| ABC | Santa Clause 3 (movie) | 1.8 | 5 | 6.664 | |
| 9:00 | NBC | Sunday Night Football: Minnesota v. Carolina | 5.5 | 14 | 16.086 |
| CBS | Survivor: Samoa (finale) | 4.4 | 11 | 13.949 | |
| FOX | Family Guy (repeat) | 3.1 | 8 | 6.288 | |
| ABC | Santa Clause 3 (movie) | 2.0 | 5 | 7.135 | |
| 9:30 | NBC | Sunday Night Football: Minnesota v. Carolina | 5.5 | 14 | 15.715 |
| CBS | Survivor: Samoa (finale) | 4.6 | 11 | 14.419 | |
| FOX | American Dad (repeat) | 2.5 | 6 | 5.145 | |
| ABC | Santa Clause 3 (movie) | 2.2 | 6 | 7.695 | |
| 10:00 | NBC | Sunday Night Football: Minnesota v. Carolina | 6.1 | 15 | 16.428 |
| CBS | Survivor: Samoa (reunion special) | 4.3 | 11 | 13.251 | |
| ABC | Desperate Housewives (repeat) | 1.3 | 3 | 4.200 | |
| 10:30 | NBC | Sunday Night Football: Minnesota v. Carolina | 5.8 | 16 | 15.504 |
| CBS | Survivor: Samoa (reunion special) | 3.5 | 9 | 11.114 | |
| ABC | Desperate Housewives (repeat) | 1.2 | 3 | 3.832 |
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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.
