‘Sunday Night Football’ Ratings Slip Double Digits on Day of Large-Scale NFL Player Protests

One-sided games never help

NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” ratings took a bit of a knee last night, slipping 10 percent in TV ratings versus the comparable Week 3 of 2016.

Sunday’s Oakland Raiders-Washington Redskins game brought in an 11.6 rating/20 share in 54 of the 56 markets metered by Nielsen. There are a few Florida cities still behind in reporting their local ratings, due to Hurricane Irma’s devastation in the Sunshine State.

Last night’s game was a bit of a blowout, with Washington leading 21-0 in the 3rd quarter. That never helps. Perhaps the day’s large-scale player protests played a (small) factor, too.

These were the Top 10 markets:
Washington, D.C.: 23.3/40
Richmond: 22.1/33
Norfolk: 19.8/31
Sacramento: 17.5/32
San Francisco/Oakland: 17.2/35
New Orleans: 17.2/24
Denver: 16.2/27
Buffalo: 15.4/24
Kansas City: 14.8/24
Las Vegas: 14.5/23

Washington ended up beating Oakland 27-10. Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins had himself a game, throwing for 365 yards and three touchdowns, with no interceptions.

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