Overnights
NBC wins Sunday night with football
By Toni Fitzgerald
Dec 1, 2008 - 11:38:20 AM

The Minnesota Vikings’ 34-14 victory over the Chicago Bears gave the squad a leg up in the NFC North division, and it gave NBC a victory on Sunday night.

“Sunday Night Football” boosted NBC to a 4.3 adults 18-49 rating and 10 share last night, according to Nielsen overnights, just ahead of CBS’s 4.1/10. That network, too, was fueled by football, with its half-hour overrun at 7 p.m. scoring the night’s highest rating, a 7.4.

As a reminder, ratings for CBS’s football overrun and “SNF” are approximate as fast nationals measure timeslot and not actual program data.

It seemed fitting that football would cap the long Thanksgiving weekend, as pigskin was the only programming to show much ratings traction during the past four days. Football helped ABC win Saturday night as well, though that was college, not pro.

On Sunday night, ABC placed third at 3.7/9, followed by Fox in fourth at 2.4/6, Univision fifth at 1.1/3 and CW sixth at 0.4/1.
 
As a reminder, all ratings are based on live-plus-same-day DVR playback. Seven-day DVR data won’t be available for several weeks. Twenty-eight percent of Nielsen households have DVRs.
 
At 7 p.m. CBS led with a 6.3 for NFL overrun and the start of “60 Minutes,” with ABC second with a 2.3 for “America’s Funniest Home Videos.” NBC was third with a 2.2 for “Football Night in America,” Fox fourth with a 1.3 for an hour of “King of the Hill” repeats, Univision fifth with a 0.9 for the first hour of “Show de los Sueños: Amigos del Alma” and CW sixth with a 0.4 for a repeat of “Jericho.”
 
NBC took the lead at 8 p.m. with a 4.5 for NFL pregame and “SNF,” while CBS slipped to second with a 4.1 for the end of “60 Minutes” and beginning of “The Amazing Race.” ABC was third with a 3.6 for “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” Fox fourth with a 3.2 for “The Simpsons” (3.5) and “Hill” (2.8), Univision fifth with a 1.1 for more “Sueños” and CW sixth with a 0.4 for the first half of the movie “Crocodile Hunter.”
 
At 9 p.m. NBC remained in first with a 5.7 for football, followed by ABC with a 5.6 for “Desperate Housewives.” CBS was third with a 3.2 for the end of “Race” and start of “Cold Case,” Fox fourth with a 2.9 for a repeat of “Family Guy” and a new “American Dad” (2.5), Univision fifth with a 1.3 for another hour of “Sueños” and CW sixth with a 0.4 for the end of its movie.
 
NBC was first again at 10 p.m. with a 5.0 for more football, while ABC remained second with a 3.5 for “Brothers & Sisters.” CBS was third with a 2.8 for the end of “Case” and beginning of “The Unit” and Univision fourth with a 1.2 for the end of “Sueños” and “Hora Pico.”
 
Among households, CBS was first for the night with a 9.1 average overnight rating and a 14 share. NBC was second at 7.2/11, ABC third at 7.1/11, Fox fourth at 3.3/5, Univision fifth at 1.6/2 and CW sixth at 0.8/1.