Here's your weekly look at NFL ratings, which shows the pure dominance of the league from a local and national level.
Pregame
Time marches on, and Fox NFL Sunday's winning streak over The NFL Today on CBS marches on. Fox beat CBS at 12 p.m. ET by a score of 3.8 to 2.6. It will be interesting to see if CBS shaking up of the pregame team next week (sending various analysts to game sites and putting voices from the network's That Other Pregame Show in their chairs) does anything to move the needle toward The Eye Network.
Fox (Regional Window)
With a slate led by a wildly entertaining Seattle-Indianapolis game and the undefeated New Orleans Saints taking on the Chicago Bears, Fox matched their regional ratings from Week 5 of the 2012 season. The games, which also included Philadelphia-New York and Detroit-Green Bay, drew a 12.5 overnight rating, same as last year's slate that included Philadelphia-Pittsburgh, Atlanta-Washington and Green Bay-Indianapolis.
Worth noting: the New York Giants remain an excellent television draw in their market (16.8 rating in New York), despite being what we can all agree is just the worst team in the history of the sport. Aside from the Jaguars. Also, New Orleans remains simply mad about their Saints, drawing an astonishing 52.8 local rating.
Top 10 local markets for Fox regional window
Market | Game | Rating |
1. New Orleans | New Orleans vs. Chicago | 52.8/76 |
2. Milwaukee | Detroit vs. Green Bay | 40.8/73 |
3. Indianapolis | Seattle vs. Indianapolis | 38.4/62 |
4. Seattle | Seattle vs. Indianapolis | 33.6/68 |
5. Chicago | New Orleans vs. Chicago | 28.4/58 |
6. Detroit | Detroit vs. Green Bay | 25.8/49 |
7. Philadelphia | Philadelphia vs. NY Giants | 25.6/51 |
8. Phoenix | Carolina vs. Arizona | 20.1/41 |
9. Charlotte | Carolina vs. Arizona | 18.9/33 |
10. Minneapolis | Detroit vs. Green Bay | 18.4/41 |
CBS (1 p.m. ET window)
Despite not having the New York or Chicago markets available due to broadcast restrictions, the early window on CBS drew a 9.7 overnight, up 4.3% from last year's slate. The Bengals and Patriots, as well as the undefeated Chiefs, led this year's 1 p.m. ET window, whereas a non-competitive Giants-Browns game was tops in Week 5 last year.
Also of note: Kansas City has officially caught the fever for their Chiefs, as only Denver, Milwaukee and New Orleans had higher local ratings for any game on the day. In St. Louis, the Rams were easily beaten by the Cardinals playoff game on TBS (20.9 to 16.7).
Top 10 local markets for 1 p.m. ET CBS window
Market | Game | Rating |
1. Kansas City | Kansas City vs. Tennessee | 39.6/69 |
2. Boston | New England vs. Cincinnati | 34.3/62 |
3. Cincinnati | New England vs. Cincinnati | 32.9/55 |
4. Baltimore | Baltimore vs. Miami | 31.1/58 |
5. Nashville | Kansas City vs. Tennessee | 27.9/46 |
6. Providence | New England vs. Cincinnati | 26.6/46 |
7. Dayton | New England vs. Cincinnati | 23.8/42 |
8. Miami | Baltimore vs. Miami | 17.2/37 |
9. Jacksonville | Jacksonville vs. St. Louis | 17.2/32 |
10. St. Louis | Jacksonville vs. St. Louis | 16.7/36 |
CBS (Game of the Week Window)
The Oakland Athletics paid CBS a massive favor by having a playoff game on Saturday night. It got the Raiders game out the 4:25 p.m. ET window and let the network show Peyton Manning vs. the Cowboys to everyone in the nation (save for Phoenix, due to blackout restrictions). The game responded by being the fourth-highest scoring contest in NFL history, and the highest rated of the season so far.
Broncos-Cowboys hit 18.6, up 18.5% from a Brady/Manning showdown in last year's big window, and was the highest-rated television program since February's Academy Awards. Ratings are getting absolutely off the charts out in Denver.
Top 10 local markets for Broncos-Cowboys
Market | Rating |
1. Denver | 42.4/76 |
2. Kansas City | 32.7/53 |
3. San Antonio | 32.0/53 |
4. Richmond | 30.9/44 |
5. Dallas | 29.5/55 |
6. Nashville | 26.7/41 |
7. Albuquerque-Santa Fe | 26.5/47 |
8. Cincinnati | 24.6/39 |
9. New Orleans | 24.5/36 |
10. Norfolk | 24.4/36 |
NBC (Sunday Night Football, Part 1)
NBC got another not-so-great Sunday night game, but still dominated primetime. A San Francisco blow out of Houston drew an 11.6 rating, down just a tick from last year's Chargers-Saints showdown.
Top 10 local markets for 49ers-Texans
Market | Rating |
1.Sacramento | 26.7/43 |
2. Houston | 26.5/40 |
3. San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose | 22.2/41 |
4. New Orleans | 18.6/25 |
5. Las Vegas | 17.0/27 |
6. San Diego | 16.3/29 |
7. Albuquerque | 15.2/24 |
8. Richmond | 15.2/22 |
9. Indianapolis | 13.9/23 |
10. Washington | 13.0/23 |