Trust Tom Brady to always bring a crowd to primetime. NBC’s coverage of the New England Patriots’ 41-16 walloping of the Denver Broncos led the night by all measures, with Sunday Night Football jumping 20 percent from the prior week.
But, compared to the Patriots’ Sunday Night Football appearance during the same week of the last NFL season, coverage was down. Last night’s average 11.5 overnight rating among households marked a 20 percent drop from 2016 — a game that brought some much-needed lifts to that languishing season.
The NFL wasn’t just a boon to NBC on Sunday; Fox’s evening coverage bled into primetime, lifting its comedy block. The Simpsons led with an average 1.9 rating among adults 18-49, followed by Ghosted (1.3 adults), Family Guy (1.4 adults) and The Last Man on Earth (0.9 adults).
ABC saw some lifts of its own, without any help from football. America’s Funniest Home Videos was at a season high 1.0 rating among adults 18-49, while back-to-back episodes of Shark Tank fetched 0.9 and 0.8 ratings in the key demo.
Without a big lead-in this week, CBS’ lineup was naturally off some. 60 Minutes lead again with a 1.2 rating among adults 18-49 and 11 million viewers. Wisdom of the Crowd dropped to a 0.8 rating in the key demo, with NCIS: Los Angeles (0.9 adults) and Madam Secretary (0.6 adults) following.
