But its lead-in, Garth Brooks’ and Trisha Yearwood’s live holiday concert, brought some Christmas joy
Good tidings, NBC, bad tidings Giants fans: The final “Sunday Night Football” game before Christmas, in which the Cleveland Browns pretty much dashed New York’s playoff hopes, easily topped primetime last night. CBS got off to a nice start with its own NFL overrun and “60 Minutes,” but settled down quite a bit by the time its holiday specials aired.
Still, Garth Brooks’ and Trisha Yearwood’s live holiday concert entertained a decent-sized audience. But the 22nd annual “Home for the Holidays” special at 10 p.m. settled for a rough 0.2 rating among adults 18-49.
Due to the nature of live sports, the below Nielsen numbers should be considered subject to heavy adjustment for NBC and CBS.
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NBC was first in ratings with a 2.8 rating in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic and in total viewers with an average of 10.5 million, according to preliminary numbers. Those were the averages of pregame show “Football Night in America” and the Browns vs. Giants game itself.
CBS was second in ratings with a 1.6 and in viewers with 9.7 million. An NFL overrun at 7 p.m. posted a 4.3/24 and 20.1 million viewers. At 8 p.m., “60 Minutes” drew a 1.4 rating and 10.2 million viewers. “Garth & Trisha Live! A Holiday Concert” at 9 p.m. received a 0.5 rating and 5.2 million viewers. At 10 p.m., “Home for the Holidays” settled for that 0.2 rating and got 2.6 million total viewers.
ABC was third in ratings with a 0.5 and in viewers with 4 million, airing movie “The Sound of Music” throughout primetime.
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Fox was fourth in ratings with a 0.4/2 and in viewers with 1.5 million, airing all repeats.
Univision and Telemundo tied for fifth in ratings, both with a 0.3. Univision had a 2 share, Telemundo had a 1. Univision was fifth in total viewers with 996,000, Telemundo was sixth with 907,000.
The CW was seventh in ratings with a 0.1/0 and in viewers with 519,000. Following a rerun, “The Outpost” at 9 p.m. had a 0.1/0 and 330,000 viewers.
Tony Maglio
TV Editor • tony.maglio@thewrap.com • Twitter: @tonymaglio