Primetime Ratings: ‘Sunday Night Football’ Down, But Still Wins

NBC grabbed the Sunday broadcast ratings bonanza on the strength of Sunday Night Football, the network scoring a 4.8 rating in 18-49, according to Nielsen’s overnights, with a 14 share. Fox too was strong, thanks to an NFL overrun, at 3.9/11. ABC and CBS scored twin 1.0/3s.

President Obama addressed the nation from 8 to 8:16 p.m. Sunday, pushing prime programming back. Nielsen will reissue live plus same day programming averages Dec. 8.

Sunday Night Football was down 23% from last week, when scores tuned in to watch the then-undefeated New England Patriots.

Fox’s The OT had a 7.1, then The Simpsons scored a 3.0, down 12%  from two weeks ago, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine a 2.0, up 54% from when it last aired. Family Guy rated a 1.7, up 21%, and The Last Man on Earth a 1.4, up 17%.

America’s Funniest Home Videos fell 30% to a 0.7 on ABC, then Once Upon a Time ticked up 8% to 1.4. Blood & Oil had a flat 0.9 and Quantico was down 8% at 1.1.

On CBS, 60 Minutes fell 52% without football to a 1.2, then the two-hour Sinatra 100: An All-Star Grammy Concert special rated a 0.8. A Grammy special on Stevie Wonder last winter rated a 1.4.

Michael Malone

Michael Malone is content director at B+C and Multichannel News. He joined B+C in 2005 and has covered network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television, including writing the "Local News Close-Up" market profiles. He also hosted the podcasts "Busted Pilot" and "Series Business." His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The L.A. Times, The Boston Globe and New York magazine.