NFL fervor: Super
hot football weekend
Colts-Patriots game pulls a 15.1 household rating
By Toni Fitzgerald
Nov 17, 2009
If ratings continue apace, the NFL should see yet another record Super Bowl in January.
NBC, Fox and the NFL Network all saw big numbers for their national NFL games this past week, in a season that's already off to its best start in two decades.
Sunday night's much-hyped game between the Indianapolis Colts and New England Patriots, which NBC branded the "rivalry of the decade" based on the two teams' recent dominance, scored the second-highest rating of the season for "Sunday Night Football" and the show's fourth-best rating ever on NBC.
"SNF" averaged a 15.1 household rating and 24 share, according to Nielsen overnights, behind only September's Dallas Cowboys-New York Giants game, which was the highest-rated primetime game in 11 years with a 16.5/27.
That game kicked off less than an hour after Fox's Dallas Cowboys-Green Bay Packers contest averaged a 16.9 rating, continuing the strongest season ever for the NFL on Fox.
And three days earlier, the NFL Network's Thursday night package debuted with a 5.2 rating, up slightly over last year after the network increased the number of households it is available in to 53 million.
The NFL has scored big ratings in large part because of this season's big storylines. The Cowboys have a new billion-dollar stadium that's almost a 12th man for the team. Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is coming back from a career-threatening injury.
The Colts, who scored in the final minute to beat the Patriots, and New Orleans Saints are undefeated at 9-0. And quarterback Brett Favre has come out of retirement again, this time for a shot at another Super Bowl with the 8-1 Minnesota Vikings.
The other factor, of course, is the country's sour economy. Fewer people can afford to go to the games, or anywhere else, making Sunday matchups that much more of a viewing event.
That should fuel ratings for weeks to come, as the playoff picture becomes more clear and the networks begin hyping big games like the New York Giants versus Minnesota and Dallas at New Orleans. That could lead to another record Super Bowl; the big game has drawn record viewership total the past two weeks.
The regular season could set a viewership mark as well. Through last week, NFL games on CBS, Fox, NBC and ESPN were averaging 17.2 million total viewers, according to Nielsen, the best since 1989.
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