Ratings soar for Patriots-Seahawks on Sunday night
It seems a good chunk of those supposedly election-distracted viewers made it back in front a television to watch NBC’s Sunday Night Football.
The NFL acknowledged last week that the downward trend it television ratings may not be all attributable to the presidential election.
But Sunday’s nationally televised games --- the first since Donald Trump secured the White House on Tuesday --- saw major bumps in viewership. It also didn’t hurt that both Fox and NBC had compelling matchups and close games.
Sunday afternoon’s Dallas Cowboys-Pittsburgh Steelers game earned the highest overnight rating (17.8) of any NFL game this season on any network. The game also drew a 34 rating, meaning 34% of the televisions being viewed were tuned to the game won by the Cowboys, 35-30.
NBC announced on Monday that its broadcast of Seattle Seahawks-New England Patriots game scored an overnight rating of 14.3, the best Week 10 Sunday Night Football broadcast in five years and 13% better than last year’s game in the same slot (Arizona Cardinals-Seattle Seahawks.)
Ratings overall this season have been down about 10% since the same time period last season. NFL Media executive vice president Brian Rolapp said last week that the league doesn’t “blame everything on the election” and it would work with television partners to better hold people’s attention during broadcasts.
“If we don’t keep an open mind about preserving some flexibility, any measure of success you have can go away pretty quickly,” Rolapp, also the president and CEO of NFL Network, said last week, according to Broadcasting & Cable.