Fox led with a 15.7 overnight for Eagles-Cowboys, down from a 16.0 for Eagles-Rams last yearGETTY IMAGES
The NFL was up again on TV in Week 14, as games with big playoff implications delivered the best aggregate overnight rating for a Sunday (four windows) since the ’16 season. The combined rating across NBC, CBS and Fox also was up 8% from Week 14 last year. Fox led the way with a 16.0 overnight for Eagles-Cowboys in the national window, and that was flat compared to Eagles-Rams in the national window last year. Fox did a see a 1% bump in the early regional window. Meanwhile, NBC last night drew a 13.0 for Rams-Bears, up 12% from Ravens-Steelers last year. The game peaked at a 14.2 rating from 9:45-10:00pm ET en route to delivering NBC another primetime win. CBS for its Week 14 window, which featured Ravens-Chiefs, drew an 11.0 overnight, marking the net’s best singleheader since Week 14 in ’16, when the window drew an 11.3 featuring Steelers-Bills (Austin Karp, THE DAILY).
|
NFL WEEK 14 SUNDAY OVERNIGHT RATINGS
|
|
NET
|
'18 GAME
|
RAT.
|
'17 GAME
|
RAT.
|
% +/-
|
|
CBS
|
(single)
|
11.0
|
(single)
|
8.6
|
+27.9%
|
|
Fox
|
(regional)
|
10.5
|
(regional)
|
10.4
|
+1.0%
|
|
Fox
|
Eagles-Cowboys (85%)
|
16.0
|
Eagles-Rams (90%)
|
16.0
|
0.0%
|
|
NBC
|
Rams-Bears
|
13.0
|
Ravens-Steelers
|
11.6
|
+12.1%
|
HERE FOR THE LONG HAUL: In Dallas, Kate Hairopoulos reported Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones "wouldn't confirm" an ESPN report that the team tried to lure "MNF" analyst Jason Witten back to the field. Jones said, "That's just not correct, period. He misses competing but he's got his head down and hands in the dirt, doing the job on Monday Night Football." Jones added that he talked to "MNF" announcer Joe Tessitore "about Witten's improvement as an analyst" during an event in N.Y. last week (DALLASNEWS.com, 12/9).
GIVE IT TO ME STRAIGHT: In N.Y., Bob Raissman wrote the current NFL pregame shows "often turn into propaganda machines for the league." He cited appearance by former Raiders Chief Exec Amy Trask on CBS' "The NFL Today" last week to talk about the Kareem Hunt situation. Trask is a regular on CBS' "That Other Pregame Show," and while some her answers "provided insight," others were "hard to believe and sounded like a talking point directly out of an NFL manifesto" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 12/9).
