The Dallas Cowboys defeated NFC East rivals the New York Giants on “Sunday Night Football,” and NBC is celebrating its best Week 2 Nielsen ratings since 2015.
Due to the nature of live sports, the below fast-national ratings for NBC, CBS and Fox will be subject to significant adjustment — but not nearly enough to derail the evening’s Top 2 broadcast networks.
NBC was first in ratings with a 5.1 rating/20 share in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic and in total viewers with an average of 15.1 million, according to preliminary numbers. Pregame show “Football Night in America” and the game itself combined for those Nielsen numbers.
CBS was second in ratings with a 2.0/8 and in viewers with 8.4 million. Following the New England Patriots’ loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, “60 Minutes” from 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. averaged an inflated 2.6/11 and 11.9 million viewers. “Big Brother” aired over the next hour and earned a 1.7/7 and 6.5 million viewers. Reruns closed out primetime.
ABC and Fox tied for third in ratings, both with a 0.7/3. ABC was third in total viewers with 4.4 million, Fox was fourth with 1.9 million.
For ABC, following a rerun, “Celebrity Family Feud” at 8 had a 0.9/3 and 5 million viewers. At 9, “The $100,000 Pyramid” got a 0.7/3 and 4.4 million viewers. A repeat followed.
For Fox, the Detroit Lions-San Francisco 49ers game gave way to reruns at 7:30 ET.
Univision and Telemundo tied for fifth in ratings, both with a 0.4/2. Univision was fifth in total viewers with 1.3 million, Telemundo was sixth with 1.1 million.
The CW does not yet nationally program Sunday nights.