The Cowboys overtime win against the 49ers Sunday drew a
22.7 overnight rating on Fox, the highest rated game for a Sunday
afternoon in 10 years and the highest for any [regular season]
pro football game in four years, according to Rudy Martzke of USA
TODAY. Martzke calls the rating "welcome news to the NFL," where
overall numbers have been off 7% this season. NBC's Sunday
coverage also earned a "high" 13.1 overnight (USA TODAY, 11/12).
EVERYDAY IS LIKE SUNDAY: The "slip" in NFL ratings through
Week 10 on its five cable and broadcast partners is examined by
Alan Breznick of CABLE WORLD. He notes that NFL and network
execs have tried to "shrug off the mid-season blahs as temporary
blips" caused by Nielsen Media Research methodology and
competition from the MLB playoffs, election debates and the TV
broadcast premiere of "The Lion King." Overall, TNT averaged a
7.3 rating for its nine games, down 10% from a 8.1 in '95. ESPN
started its coverage November 3 with 9.3 for 49ers-Saints, down
10% from '95's opener. Fox had a 10.7 for the first 10 weeks,
down 10% from an 11.8 last season. NBC's coverage has dropped 3%
to a 10.1 and ABC's "Monday Night Football" has averaged 16.8, a
2% dropoff from '95 (CABLE WORLD, 11/11 issue).
