Fox’ NFL national window featuring Packers-Bears on Sunday led all Week Three NFL game telecasts with a 14.1 final Nielsen and 24.0 million viewers. That audience figure ranked as the second-best rating and viewership on all of TV last week, pacing only behind CBS’ season premiere of “Two and a Half Men,” which drew a 16.7 rating and 28.7 million viewers. Compared to CBS’ national window in Week Three last year, Fox was up 0.7% and 3.7%, respectively, from a 14.0 rating and 23.1 million viewers for coverage featuring Colts-Broncos. Fox’ telecast also marked the No. 1 show of the week among males 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54, as well as adults 18-34. NBC’s Steelers-Colts “SNF” telecast also saw a year-over-year audience gain compared to Jets-Dolphins in Week Three last year. Steelers-Colts finished with a 12.2 rating and 20.4 million viewers, up 8.0% and 12.2%, respectively, from an 11.3 rating and 18.1 million viewers. NBC also won primetime on Sunday night. Meanwhile, ESPN finished with a 10.6 U.S. rating and 17.1 million viewers for Cowboys-Redskins, marking the net’s best “MNF” audience to date this season. "MNF" also led ESPN to a win for the night among all networks -- broadcast and cable -- in viewership and among all key adult and male demos. However, after overnight ratings originally indicated a year-over-year gain, Cowboys-Redskins ended up down 1.9% and 2.0%, respectively, from Packers-Bears in Week Three last year. ESPN has now seen the audience for each of its four “MNF” telecasts drop compared to last year.
