Seahawks' Win Propels NBC to Sunday Ratings Lead
ABC came in third place despite scoring one of its best Sunday performances of the season.
It may not have been a barn burner, but NBC’s Sunday Night Football matchup between the Seattle Seahawks and St. Louis Rams was enough to give the net an easy win on a night of reruns.
The Seahawks’ 16-6 win over the Rams, which earned Seattle the dubious distinction of becoming the first team with a losing record to win their division and head to the playoffs, delivered a 5.7 rating in the 18-49 demographic with 14.2 million viewers overall, according to preliminary numbers from Nielsen. (Averages are approximate due live nature of coverage.)
Fox was second for the night in the demo averaging a 3.4 with 8.5 million viewers overall with reruns of animated comedies The Simpsons (2.7, 6.2 million), The Cleveland Show (2.2, 4.9 million) and Family Guy (2.6, 5.5 million).
With football overrun sliding CBS’ primetime of 60 Minutes, double episodes of CSI: Miami and Undercover Boss about 16 minutes, the net was second among total viewers averaging 11.2 million for the night with a 2.4 demo rating.
ABC also showed a pulse registering one of its best Sunday performances of the season with new episodes of America’s Funniest Home Videos (2.1, 8.2 million), Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (2.7, 9.3 million), Desperate Housewives (3.8, 12.1 million) and Brothers & Sisters (2.4, 7.9 million) for a third place finish in the demo (2.7) and among total viewers (9.4 million).
