NFL games out on top
A 1-2 finish by NFL games on Thanksgiving evening and Sunday night gave NBC its second weekly primetime ratings victory in three weeks, despite substantially lower viewership than one year ago.
In a week whose final four days had many reruns, NBC averaged 9.25 million viewers for its prime-time programming between Nov. 21 and Sunday, according to live-plus-same-day figures released Wednesday by Nielsen. CBS was second, averaging 7.93 million viewers. ABC was third, averaging 5.84 million.
Fox was fourth among the major broadcast networks for the 31st time in the past 33 weeks, averaging 2.9 million viewers. Fox also trailed Hallmark Channel, the week’s most-watched cable network, which averaged 3 million viewers.
The Pittsburgh Steelers’ 28-7 victory over the Indianapolis Colts on Thanksgiving night was the week’s most-watched program, averaging 20.88 million viewers, 24.7% less than the 27.75 million average for last year’s Thanksgiving night game between the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers, the most for an NFL prime-time game on Thanksgiving.
The NFL has aired a prime-time game on Thanksgiving since 2006, with NBC carrying the game since 2012. It had previously been carried by cable’s NFL Network.
The Kansas City Chiefs’ 30-27 overtime victory over the Denver Broncos on Sunday night was second for the week, averaging 18.44 million viewers, 26.8% fewer than the 25.19 million average for the Broncos’ 30-24 overtime victory over the previously undefeated New England Patriots on the Sunday night on Thanksgiving weekend last year.
Viewership for NFL games has been down throughout the season.
The CBS news magazine “60 Minutes” was the mostwatched nonfootball program for the third consecutive week.