CBS led all NFL Week 2 telecasts with a 15.8 final rating and 26.4 million viewers for its national window, which featured Broncos-Giants. The net’s “The NFL Today” pregame show is averaging a 2.3 rating (3.3 million viewers). Fox finished with a 12.8 rating (21.9 million viewers) for its Sunday singleheader. Through two weeks, Fox’ game telecast audience is up 8% over last year and ranks as the net’s best start ever to an NFL season. The “Fox NFL Sunday” pregame show is averaging a 3.3 rating (5.1 million viewers) through two weeks, up 6%. The Seahawks’ 29-3 defeat of the 49ers on “SNF” averaged 20.5 million viewers, leading NBC to a nightly win among all nets despite a 60-minute weather delay during the first quarter. ESPN’s Steelers-Bengals “MNF” game earned a 9.1 rating (14.3 million viewers), peaking during the 10:00-10:15pm ET window. The game led ESPN to primetime win among all nets. After three telecasts, “MNF” is averaging an 8.8 rating and 14.1 million viewers), up 10% and 14%, respectively (THE DAILY).
LOCAL NFL RATINGS: The Lions-Cardinals game drew a 21.6 local rating in the Phoenix market last Sunday, marking the team’s best Week 2 rating on record (Cardinals)....49ers-Seahawks drew a 44.8 rating in Seattle, the city's "best numbers ever" for an NBC "SNF" game (SEATTLETIMES.com, 9/19).
DOWN THE STRETCH THEY COME: MLB Network averaged 450,000 viewers for Yankees-Red Sox last Friday, marking the net’s most-watched MLB game this season to date and eighth-best all-time (THE DAILY)….NESN is averaging a "solid" 7.3 rating on Red Sox telecasts this year, “up 13 percent over last year” through 138 games. The Red Sox in September are averaging a 9.2 rating on NESN “through the first 13 games of the month, including two single-game ratings above 11” (BOSTON GLOBE, 9/20).
NOTES: ESPN2 drew a 17.6 local rating in Oklahoma City for the Oklahoma-Tulsa game last Saturday, ahead of a 16.3 rating on KWTV-CBS for Alabama-Texas A&M and an 8.6 on FS Oklahoma for Lamar-Oklahoma State. The 8.6 marked OSU’s “lowest rating this season” (OKLAHOMAN, 9/17)....NBCSN finished with 227,000 viewers for the fifth iteration of the World Series of Fighting last Saturday, down slightly from the fourth telecast in August (MMAWEEKLY.com, 9/17).
The charts below list final ratings from recent telecasts.
| TELECAST | DATE | NET | TIME (ET) | RAT. | VIEWERS (000) |
| "NFL on CBS": Broncos-Giants (89%) | 9/14 | CBS | 4:20-7:30pm | 15.8 | 26,400 |
| "NFL on Fox": (single) | 9/14 | Fox | 1:00-4:05pm | 12.8 | 21,900 |
| "Sunday Night Football": 49ers-Seahawks** | 9/14 | NBC | 8:31pm-12:13am | 12.2 | 20,543 |
| College Football: Alabama-Texas A&M | 9/13 | CBS | 3:30-6:00pm | 8.5 | n/a |
| "NFL on CBS": (regional) | 9/14 | CBS | 1:00-4:20pm | 8.0 | n/a |
| "Football Night in America" | 9/14 | NBC | 7:30-8:15pm | 4.6 | 7,562 |
| "Fox NFL Sunday" | 9/14 | Fox | 12:00-1:00pm | 3.3 | 5,100 |
| College Football: Notre Dame-Purdue | 9/13 | ABC | 8:07-11:39pm | 3.0 | 4,789 |
| College Football: UCLA-Nebraska | 9/13 | ABC | 12:00-3:30pm | 2.7 | 4,193 |
| "The NFL Today" | 9/14 | CBS | 12:00-1:00pm | 2.2 | n/a |
| College Football: Ohio State-Cal | 9/13 | Fox | 7:06-10:41pm | 2.0 | 3,253 |
| College Football: Tennessee-Oregon | 9/13 | ABC | 3:30-6:45pm | 2.0 | 3,164 |
| FIFA World Cup qualifer: Mexico-U.S. | 9/10 | UniMas | 7:33-10:10pm | 1.8 | 3,540 |
| "College Football Today" | 9/13 | CBS | 3:00-3:30pm | 1.7 | n/a |
| "Fox Sports 1 on 1: Adrian Peterson" | 9/14 | Fox | 4:30-5:30pm | 1.6 | 2,400 |
| PGA Tour: BMW Championship: Third Round | 9/13 | NBC | 3:00-6:00pm | 1.4 | 1,900 |
| MLB: (regional) | 9/13 | Fox | 12:30-4:00pm | 1.3 | 1,900 |
| PGA Tour: BMW Championship: Final Round* | 9/14 | NBC | 1:30-6:00pm | 0.7 | 1,040 |
| EPL: Everton-Chelsea | 9/13 | NBC | 12:30-3:00pm | 0.6 | 917 |
| "College Football special" | 9/13 | CBS | 2:30-3:00pm | 0.5 | n/a |
| Liga MX: Chivas de Guadalajara-Tijuana | 9/15 | UniMas | 5:50-8:00pm | 0.5 | 943 |
| Liga MX: Cruz Azul-Tigres UANL | 9/14 | Univ. | 5:50-8:00pm | 0.5 | 757 |
| LPGA: Evian Championship: Final Round | 9/14 | NBC | 12:00-1:30pm | 0.5 | 637 |
| Lucas Oil Off Road Racing | 9/13 | CBS | 1:30-2:30pm | 0.3 | n/a |
| TELECAST | DATE | NET | TIME (ET) | RAT. | VIEWERS (000) |
| "Monday Night Football": Eagles-Redskins | 9/9 | ESPN | 6:58-10:39pm | 10.1 | 16,524 |
| "Monday Night Football": Texans-Chargers | 9/9 | ESPN | 10:39pm-1:45am | 7.1 | 10,951 |
| "Thursday Night Football": Patriots-Jets | 9/12 | NFLN | 8:30-11:54pm | 5.5 | 8,791 |
| NASCAR Sprint Cup: Chicagoland^ | 9/15 | ESPN | 3:15-4:44pm | 2.4 | 3,623 |
| "Thursday Night Football Pre-Kick" | 9/12 | NFLN | 8:00-8:30pm | 2.4 | 3,604 |
| College Football: Wisconsin-Arizona State | 9/14 | ESPN | 10:38pm-2:10am | 1.6 | 2,529 |
| College Football: Louisville-Kentucky | 9/14 | ESPN | 12:01-3:14pm | 1.5 | 2,279 |
| College Football: Vanerbilt-South Carolina | 9/12 | ESPN | 7:25-11:09pm | 1.4 | 2,277 |
| "Sunday NFL Countdown" | 9/15 | ESPN | 10:00am-1:00pm | 1.6 | 2,266 |
| FIFA World Cup qualifer: Mexico-U.S. | 9/10 | ESPN | 7:41-10:01pm | 1.4 | 2,243 |
NOTES: * = Final round concluded on Monday on Golf Channel due to weather delays, with the cable net averaging 942,000 viewers. ** = Excludes one-hour weather delay during first quarter. Air times were 8:31-9:05pm and 10:05-12:13am ET. ^ = The race aired from 3:15-4:44pm on ESPN and then from 10:00-pm-1:15am on ESPN2.
