Football is (just about) back! The Arizona Cardinals beatdown of the Dallas Cowboys topped Sunday in TV ratings, which is something the rest of broadcast will just have to get used to.
Due to the nature of live sports, numbers for “Sunday Night Football” host-network NBC are considered to significant adjustment.
NBC was first in ratings with a 1.4 rating/7 share in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic and in total viewers with an average of 6.4 million, according to preliminary numbers. “Dateline” at 7 p.m. had a 1.0/5 and 5.8 million viewers. The game followed and ran through primetime.
ABC was second in ratings with a 0.9/4 and in viewers with 5 million. Following a rerun, “Celebrity Family Feud” at 8 received a 1.1/5 and 6.3 million viewers. “The $100,000 Pyramid” at 9 landed a 0.9/4 and 5.1 million viewers. At 10, the “To Tell the Truth” season finale closed its summer (and prime) to a 0.8/4 and 3.9 million viewers.
CBS and Fox tied for third in ratings, both with a 0.7/3. CBS was third in total viewers with 4.8 million viewers. Airing all repeats, Fox was fourth with 1.8 million viewers.
For CBS, “60 Minutes” at 7 had a 0.6/3 and 7.3 million viewers. At 8, “Big Brother” earned a 1.5/7 and 5.7 million viewers. Reruns followed.
Univision and Telemundo tied for fifth in ratings, both with a 0.3. Univision had a 2 share, Telemundo got a 1 share. Univision was fifth in total viewers with 1.2 million, Telemundo was sixth with 869,000.
The CW does not currently nationally program Sunday nights.