'Sunday Night Football' sees ratings boost with Christmas matchup

The Kansas City Chiefs’ 33-10 victory that knocked the reigning Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos out of playoff contention scored NBC a prime time win on Sunday.

The Sunday Night Football broadcast netted a 11.2 overnight rating and a 23 share, the network announced on Monday. The rating was about a 10% improvement over last year’s Week 16 game between the Minnesota Vikings and New York Giants.

Sunday night’s viewership peaked between 9-9:30 p.m. ET (11.7 rating/23 share) before the Chiefs pulled away. The Chiefs had already clinched at least a wild-card berth earlier Sunday with the Pittsburgh Steelers’ victory over Baltimore Ravens. Kansas City remains in the hunt for the AFC West title.

The Kansas City market posted a 42.8 rating and a 69 share, the second-best overnight rating in that area for a Sunday Night Football broadcast, according to NBC. The share is the percentage of televisions in use tuned to particular network.

The final regular-season Sunday night game will feature the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions, a game “flexed” into prime time by the NFL. The winner of the game, originally scheduled for 1 p.m. ET, will secure the NFC North title.

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