CBS led all NFL game telecasts yesterday with a 14.2 overnight Nielsen rating for its national window, which featured Chargers-Bears in 79% of markets. However, that rating is down 15% from a 16.7 rating last year for a national window which featured Colts-Patriots in 96% of markets. CBS also saw a sharp drop for its regional coverage in the early window. NBC earned a 14.0 overnight for its Eagles-Giants "SNF" telecast, down 11.9% from the same matchup last year. The game was the No. 1 broadcsat in primetime and led NBC to another win for the night. Fox NFL singleheader was the only window to see a ratings gain yesterday (+2.4%) (Austin Karp, THE DAILY).
| NFL WEEK 11: SUNDAY OVERNIGHT NIELSEN RATINGS |
| NET | '11 GAME | RAT. | '10 GAME | RAT. | % +/- |
| Fox | (single) | 12.7 | (single) | 12.4 | 2.4% |
| CBS | (regional) | 8.4 | (regional) | 11.1 | -24.3% |
| CBS | Chargers-Bears (79%) | 14.2 | Colts-Patriots (96%) | 16.7 | -15.0% |
| NBC | Eagles-Giants | 14.0 | Giants-Eagles | 15.9 | -11.9% |
| | | | | | |
TEBOW TIME: NFL Network averaged a 4.3 U.S. rating and 7.1 million viewers for the Jets-Broncos "Thursday Night Football" game last week, up 23% and 31%, respectively, from a 3.5 rating and 5.4 million viewers for the comparable Bears-Dolphins game last year. Jets-Broncos marks the fifth-largest audience in NFL Net's history. The game also delivered over 620,000 viewers via the NFL Mobile app and coverage online at NFL.com (Karp).
TIME FOR A CHANGE: In Baltimore, David Zurawik writes after "too many Sundays spent with" CBS announcers Greg Gumbel and Dan Dierdorf, he watched yesterday's Bengals-Ravens game on CBS and "listened to the play-by-play and analysis on WBAL radio from Gerry Sandusky, Stan White and Qadry Ismail." Zurawik: "The enthusiasm and authority of Gerry Sandusky's play-by-play announcing are as impressive as anything this side of an Al Michaels' broadcast on NBC's 'Sunday Night Football.'" Zurawik continues, "I had listened to Ismail doing analysis in the past, and wasn't that impressed. But either he has improved exponentially -- or my standards have sunk." Zurawik writes he will "keep the TV sound on Thursday for the NFL Network broadcast of the Ravens game," but the "guys in the NFL Network booth are going to have to be very good to top what I heard Sunday on WBAL radio" (Baltimore SUN, 11/21).
BONUS FOOTBALL: In N.Y., Jack Bell noted Fox for the third time this year showed a tape-delayed EPL soccer match following its NFL coverage yesterday. Fox Sports Media Group co-President & co-COO Eric Shanks said, "We looked at the EPL schedule layered against NFL singleheaders and said: ‘Holy mackerel! Chelsea-Manchester United, Arsenal-Tottenham, another one in November and then Super Bowl Sunday.’ It has really blown our socks off." Fox affiliates around the country chose to "show the soccer match in the early slot (2 p.m. Eastern) or later (4:30 p.m.), depending on the starting time of the NFL game chosen by the local stations." The EPL match was "shown live at 11 a.m. Eastern on the Fox Soccer cable channel, which has experienced impressive growth in viewership" (N.Y. TIMES, 11/20).
STAYING FLEXIBLE: NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell Friday said that the "next wave of broadcast contracts, starting in 2014, could entail an earlier flexible scheduling option." Goodell: "As we look toward extending our television agreements, there’s an idea that we would have some more flexibility between our partners to allow our games to be put into different time slots, and maybe start flex scheduling earlier in the year" (PROFOOTBALLTALK.com, 11/19).
