Primetime NFL football ratings keep pancake-blocking the rest of TV — especially when the games are tight. NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” matchup between the Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears was no exception.
Due to the nature of live sports, the below fast-national ratings for NBC and Fox are subject to significant adjustments. Still, it was another huge night for those paying a princely sum for NFL rights.
NBC was first in ratings with a 4.3 rating/17 share in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic and in total viewers with an average of 14.1 million, according to preliminary numbers. Those numbers represent the average of 90 minutes of “Football Night in America” and then the NFC North game itself.
Fox was second in ratings with a 1.9/7 and third in viewers with 5.6 million. An NFL overrun and Fox’s postgame series “The OT” ran until 8 p.m., at which point “The Simpsons” had a 1.6/6 and 4.4 million viewers. At 8:30, “Bob’s Burgers” got a 1.2/4 and 3 million viewers. “Family Guy” at 9 received a 1.1/4 and 2.7 million viewers. At 9:30, “Rel” managed a 0.6/2 and 1.6 million viewers.
CBS was third in ratings with a 0.8/3 and second in viewers with 7.7 million. At 7, “60 Minutes” had a 1.0/4 and 10.2 million viewers. “God Friended Me” at 8 got a 0.8/3 and 7.6 million viewers. At 9, “NCIS: Los Angeles” received a 0.8/3 and 7.2 million viewers. “Madam Secretary” at 10 closed primetime to a 0.6/2 and 5.7 million viewers. Due to afternoon football, those time slots were 15-minutes delayed/messed-up in about 11 percent of the country
ABC was fourth in ratings with a 0.7/3 and in viewers with 4 million. “America’s Funniest Home Videos” at 7 had a 0.8/3 and 5.6 million viewers. At 8, “Dancing With the Stars: Juniors” got a 0.7/3 and 4.2 million viewers. “Shark Tank” at 9 received a 0.8/3 and 3.5 million viewers. A rerun followed.
Univision was fifth in ratings with a 0.5/2 and in viewers with 1.4 million.
The CW and Telemundo tied for sixth in ratings, both with a 0.3/1. CW was sixth in total viewers with 995,000, Telemundo was seventh with 938,000.
For CW, “Supergirl” at 8 had a 0.3/1 and 1.1 million viewers. At 9, “Charmed” got a 0.3/1 and 971,000 viewers.