Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Ratings Roundup: Sunday Night Football Hits Lowest Ratings Valley in Week 2 Since 2007

21/09/2019

Ratings Roundup: Sunday Night Football Hits Lowest Ratings Valley in Week 2 Since 2007 By Kristian Hernandez, Associate Editor

Friday, September 20, 2019 - 9:10 am

Print This Story

Story Highlights

Ratings roundup is a rundown of rating news from the past week and is derived from press releases and reports around the industry. In this week's edition, NBC Sports leads NFL Week 2 ratings without a dive in numbers this week, college football rolls on, and Fox Sports' recent episode of PBC Fight Camp becomes the most-watched in 2019.

Sunday Night Football Scores Lowest Week 2 Number in 12 Years

According to SportsMediaWatch (SMW), NBC Sports' Eagles vs. Falcons matchup did not resonate with many NFL fans. The game averaged a 10.3 rating and 17.64 million viewers on NBC's Sunday Night Football over the weekend, marking the lowest-rated and least-watched Week 2 edition of SNF since 2007 (Chargers-Patriots: 9.8, 15.32M). The previous lows were a 10.8 and 17.84 million for Steelers-Browns in 2008.

Atlanta's narrow win declined 12% in ratings and 15% in viewership from Giants-Cowboys last year (11.7, 20.66M) and 9% and 13% respectively from Packers-Falcons in 2017 (11.3, 20.24M).

Of the Falcons' last fourteen primetime games (dating back to 2014), 11 have declined in ratings and 12 have declined in viewership. The exceptions are their Thanksgiving night loss to the Saints last season, a Super Bowl 51 rematch against New England in 2017, and the 2014 Monday Night Football opener against the Eagles.

Philadelphia led all markets for Sunday's game with a 32.6 rating and a 51 share (meaning 51% of TVs in use were tuned to the game). Atlanta ranked a distant second with a 22.3/40. New Orleans was the top neutral market (19.6/28), with Milwaukee (15.4/26) and Albuquerque, N.M. (15.3/26) rounding out the top five

The first Thursday Night Football game didn't fare much better. Buccaneers-Panthers averaged a 4.1 rating and 6.64 million viewers on NFL Network, marking the lowest-rated and least-watched TNF opener since 2011, when the series did not debut until Week 10 (Raiders-Chargers: 3.3, 5.28M) (SMW)

Tampa Bay's win declined a tick in ratings and 5% in viewership from Ravens-Bengals last year (4.2, 7.02M), and 16% and 18% respectively from Texans-Bengals in 2017 (4.9, 8.08M)

On Fox, America's Game of the Week featuring a Los Angeles Rams win over the New Orleans Saints delivered 23,336,000 viewers, which was Sunday's most-watched telecast for the second consecutive week and up 11% over last year's comparable window (21,029,000 viewers). So far, the NFL on Fox is averaging 19,081,000 viewers to make this start the best since 2016. Compared to last year, the numbers are up 7 (17,865,000 viewers)

Monday Night Football on ESPN - a 23-3 Cleveland Browns win over the New York Jets - averaged 11.9 million viewers across ESPN and ESPN Deportes, according to Nielsen.

The telecast helped ESPN win the night among all networks, broadcast or cable, in households, viewers and all key male and adult demos (12-17, 18-34, 18-49, 25-54, 55 ). MNF was also the highest-rated telecast of the night across all broadcast and cable networks among the same demos (except 55 ). ESPN Deportes also added 111,000 viewers. Through three games, MNF's average audience of 12,164,000 viewers is up 14% season-to-date (10,700,000 in 2018).

In Cleveland, the game delivered a 13.2 rating on ESPN and a 27.2 rating on WKYC-NBC, for a combined 40.4 rating. As for New York, it delivered a 6.9 rating on ESPN and a 3.6 on WPIX-CW, for a combined 10.5 rating. Nationally, the top 10 metered markets included Columbus (18.5), New Orleans (16.1), Dayton, Ohio (15.3), Buffalo (13.3), West Palm Beach (13.3), Pittsburgh (12.4), Jacksonville (11.2), Oklahoma City (11.1), Cincinnati (10.9), and San Diego (10.9)

CBS Sports' second singleheader week of the 2019 NFL season was up 27% in viewership averaging 15.244 million viewers versus its comparable second singleheader week last year (11.984 million).

The NFL on CBS also earned a ratings increase of 27% with an 8.9/22 average national household rating/share compared to a 7.0/17 last year in Week 3 (9/23/18), which was the Network's comparable second singleheader week.

Sunday's viewership and rating is The NFL on CBS' most-watched and highest-rated second singleheader week of the season since 2016 (16.446 million viewers; 9.4/21 rating/share; on 10/2/16).

The two singleheaders-to-date on CBS in 2019 are averaging 15.311 million viewers (P2 ), up 4% versus last year's 14.683 million; and are up 6% with an 8.9/22 average HH rating/share versus last year's 8.4/20. This year is the best performance for the first two singleheaders of the season on CBS since 2016 (16.243 million; 9.3/21).

ESPN Runs the Table in Latest Slate of College Football

ABC and ESPN continued its big start to the college football season in week 3, as this week ABC aired the most-watched game in the noon window and the two networks combined to air the two most-watched primetime games. Amongst all games and timeslots, the two networks aired three of the four most-watched games and ESPN set a multi-year viewership high for a Friday night game. The success included College GameDay Built by The Home Depot, as the 11-time Emmy winning show continues to grow its viewership year-over-year, both on a weekly and seasonal basis.

Pittsburgh at Penn State on ABC was the most-watched noon game window of the week across all networks and second most-watched game of the season in the timeslot. The ESPN CFB150 Showcase Game averaged 3,196,000 viewers, including a peak audience of 4.2 million viewers (3:45-3:56 p.m.). The 100th meeting between the schools resonated in the state, as Pittsburgh was the top market with 13.4 local rating followed by Ph
LINK: https://www.sportsvideo.org/2019/09/20/ratings-roundup-sunday-night-fo...
See more stories from svg

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

04/07/2026

Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in Dolby Cinemas Across Japan, Presented in Dolby Atmos and Dolby ...

April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...

01/06/2026

Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026

January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026 Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...

02/05/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Search, Faster Editing, and an AI-Ready Foundation for Modern Media

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

01/05/2026

NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to Integrate Dolby's Full Suite of Premium Picture and Sound Innovations

January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...

08/04/2026

SVG College Sports Media Awards 2026: Entry Deadline is Monday, April 13

The deadline to enter the 18th Annual SVG College Sports Media Awards in association with NACDA is rapidly approaching! Submit your entries to this year's c...

08/04/2026

SVG Campus Shot Callers: Trever Sheets, Senior Director, ACC Network, Virginia Tech

The Pittsburgh product helps lead more than 100 annual ESPN broadcasts as part o...

08/04/2026

SVG Sit-Down: Harmonic's Jean Macher on Turning Live Sports Content Into a Smarter Monetization Engine

Dynamic ad insertion, AI-based technologies, programmatic advertising are some o...

08/04/2026

Announcing the 2026 Fellows for the Sundance Institute Cultural Impact Residency on Sundance Collab

Seven Fellows Selected for Second Year of Residency in Honor of Social Justice L...

08/04/2026

From Tokyo to the World: Watch Bad Bunny's Billions Club Live Concert on Spotify

On March 7, Bad Bunny made history with his first-ever performance in Asia, taki...

08/04/2026

De Tokio para el mundo: Mira el concierto Billions Club Live de Bad Bunny en Spotify

El 7 de marzo, Bad Bunny hizo historia con su primera presentaci n en Asia, subi...

08/04/2026

Tube Lab from Fuse Audio Labs

New channel strip plug-in revealed The latest plug-in to be added to the Fuse Audio Labs line-up emulates a selection of vintage hardware units, combining c...

08/04/2026

Blue Cat Audio release Axiom 2.3

Guitar & bass multi-effects software overhauled Blue Cat Audio's flagship guitar and bass multi-effects software has recently received a significant upd...

08/04/2026

Merging Technologies launch Pyramix 16

PanNoir mixer integration, Dolby Atmos Renderer & more Merging Technologies have just launched Pyramix 16, the latest major update to their renowned DAW sof...

08/04/2026

Updating QUARTZ Router Module Firmware Over-The-Air

Applicable Products Part number Description QUARTZ-22-LTE (EU) Dual Port Dual SIM LTE Router (EU) QUARTZ-COMPACT-11-LTE (EU) Single Port Compact LTE ...

08/04/2026

YEP September 2025 Newsletter (2)

The September 19, 2025 YEP Newsletter highlights a group visit to the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, where participants explored exhibits showcasing the art...

08/04/2026

Proven On Orbit: L3Harris Congratulates Missile Defense Agency for Receiving Top Defense Honor for HBTSS

The L3Harris HBTSS satellite is proven on orbit, successfully demonstrating trac...

08/04/2026

From Earth to Mars: Resilient Communications Powering the Space Economy

Image Credit: NASA. Artist rendering of a space communications satellite in orbit, representative of the resilient, multiband infrastructure supporting mission ...

08/04/2026

Precision in Practice: Flight Test Confirms Key Air-to-Air Capabilities

Latest evaluation validates image quality, Inertial Navigation System performance and long-range tracking in operational flight conditions....

08/04/2026

Gen Alpha Leads Shift to AI-Powered Entertainment Search, Discovery and Recommendations

New Gracenote study finds behavioral change well underway, but trust in AI-gener...

08/04/2026

Media Links to Focus on IP Transport Solutions at 2026 NAB Show

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

08/04/2026

Telestream and Mimir Integration Facilitates Real-Time Pr...

Integration eliminates ingest bottlenecks by ensuring content is immediately usable across cloud and hybrid editorial workflows. See it at NAB 2026. Nevada Cit...

08/04/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia Bringing...

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the commercial availability of Dalia, its media-aware, agentic AI...

08/04/2026

Synamedia unveils Senza Ignite to transform deployed devi...

Leading video software provider Synamedia today announced Senza Ignite, a cloud-based platform that transforms existing connected devices through a single firmw...

08/04/2026

Appear works with Corus to transform national news contri...

Modernised architecture increases operational control and agility, while reducing cost and simplifying nationwide media transport across affiliates and news bur...

08/04/2026

LynTec to Showcase High Density Power Control Solutions f...

Company to Feature DMX Dual Relay, High-Density 48-Channel Relay Panels, and New Private Label Power Program LynTec, a leading manufacturer of innovative ele...

08/04/2026

BCE integrates BCNEXXT Vipe to power cloud playout in Med...

Broadcasting Center Europe (BCE), a European media technology and services partner, today announces a technology partnership with BCNEXXT, a Netherlands-based c...

08/04/2026

Encompass Strengthens Global Media Operations with Expans...

Encompass Digital Media today announced the expansion of its Master Control Room (MCR) facility in Riga, Latvia, establishing it as one of the most advanced and...

08/04/2026

Synamedia lights up Las Vegas with innovations that will...

Leading video solutions provider Synamedia is back at The 2026 NAB Show with innovations that connect tomorrows audiences today. On display will be a range of t...

08/04/2026

COW Jobs: Director Needed for WWII Indie Docudrama

COW Jobs: Director Needed for WWII Indie Docudrama Brie Clayton April 8, 2026 0 Comments Director Needed for WWII Indie Docudrama March 17, 2026COW ...

08/04/2026

ESPN Expands Global Reach on Disney+

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

08/04/2026

Broadcast Industry Initiatives Promise To Speed Adoption of ST 2110

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

08/04/2026

Remembering Television's Role in the U.S. Bicentennial

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

08/04/2026

Synamedia Unveils AI by Quortex

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

08/04/2026

Carrie Healey Joins NAB as Vice President of Communications

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

08/04/2026

Amagi Launches Newspulse

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

08/04/2026

Marshall Electronics Unveils CV376 NDI HX3 HDMI POV Camer...

Marshall Electronics introduces its latest POV camera with the new CV376 Compact NDI |HX3 HDMI POV Camera at NAB 2026 (Booth C8339). Designed for versatile 4K c...

08/04/2026

Zixi Showcases Interoperable Live Video Workflows and Sat...

Zixi, a leader in live video delivery and workflow orchestration, enables interoperable live video workflows across multi-vendor environments, helping broadcast...

08/04/2026

Official trailer released for Sky Original action thriller Prisoner, starring Tahar Rahim and Izuka Hoyle

All episodes available on Thursday 30 April on Sky Atlantic and NOWWednesday 8 A...

08/04/2026

Agent from Above' Celebrates Divine Ascent to Global Ranking With Exclusive Cast and Behind-The-Scenes Photos

Back to All News Agent from Above' Celebrates Divine Ascent to Global Rank...

08/04/2026

Official Poster Revealed for 'My Two Cents,' the New Animated Series Created, Written and Directed by Zerocalcare

Back to All News Official Poster Revealed for My Two Cents, the New Animated Se...

08/04/2026

Champions Awards 2026 Finalists & Northern Marketing Festival

ICG is gearing up for a busy day on 14th May in Manchester. First up, we'll be joining the Northern Marketing Festival as one of the event's marketing ...

08/04/2026

How DPA solutions keep the Teatro Coln sounding like itself

The Teatro Col n in Buenos Aires is not a venue that tolerates compromise. Built in 1908 and routinely ranked among the worlds finest concert halls, it has an a...

08/04/2026

Kathryn Thomas questions if we can be Young Forever in new RT documentary

Young Forever: The Death of Ageing? airs Monday 13 April and 20 April on RT One and RT Player Around the world, the race to beat ageing is on. From cutting ...

08/04/2026

April 07, 2026

Scripps Research scientists uncover new mechanism cancer cells use to survive DNA damage Discovery reshapes understanding of how tumor cells repair broken DNA, ...

07/04/2026

NAB 2026: Ikegami USA To Launch Two New Viewfinders, Refine UHD Cameras

Ikegami USA will launch a refinement to the UHK-X700 and UHK-X750 3-CMOS -in. UHD cameras in the UNICAM XE series plus two new 7-in. viewfinders at NAB 2026 in...

07/04/2026

NAB 2026: NAB Leadership Foundation to Host Technology Students Career Mixer

The NAB Leadership Foundation and NAB PILOT will host a career mixer for technology students at NAB Show 2026 on April 18, 5-6:30 p.m., North Hall, Room N225/22...

07/04/2026

Survey: AVoIP Adoption Accelerating, With Interoperability and Security as Key Drivers

Audinate Group Limited and Futuresource Consulting have published results from a...

07/04/2026

NAB 2026: Eluvio Announces Commercial Availability of Content Fabric Bucharest Release

Eluvio has announced the commercial availability of its Content Fabric Bucharest...