NBC's SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL is Primetime TV's No. 1 Show
By: Caryn Robbins May. 12, 2015
For the fourth consecutive television season, NBC's SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL will finish as television's No. 1 primetime show in household rating and viewership when the 2014-15 TV season concludes next Wednesday, based on live plus same day data from The Nielsen Company (September-May). This marks the only four times on record that a sports series has been the highest-rated and most-watched show of the primetime TV season.
| Program | # of Primetime TelecastsWith 20 Million Viewers |
| Sunday Night Football | 12 |
| NFL Postseason Games* | 4 (2 on NBC) |
| NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament (Semifinal & Final) | 2 |
| BCS Playoffs (Semifinal & Final) | 2 |
| Thursday Night Football | 2 |
| The Blacklist (post-Super Bowl) | 1 |
| SNL: 40th Anniversary | 1 |
| Academy Awards | 1 |
| Grammy Awards | 1 |
| World Series | 1 |
*Four NFL postseason games in primetime: SUPER BOWL XLIX (NBC), AFC Championship Game (CBS), NFC Divisional Playoff (FOX), AFC Wild Card Playoff (NBC)
Also notable from the 2014-15 TV season (based on live plus same day data through May 10):
- The 21.3 million average viewers for Sunday Night Football -- despite the most lopsided games in the history of the NBC primetime package (since 2006) -- tops primetime's No 2. show (Thursday Night Football; 16.7 million viewers) by more than 4.5 million viewers;
- In the advertiser-coveted Adult 18-49 demographic, Sunday Night Footballranks as the No. 1 show for the fifth consecutive TV season and tops the second place show by 4% (7.7 vs. 7.4 for The Walking Dead) (see head-to-head notes below);
- The 2010-14 seasons of Sunday Night Football are the first five consecutive seasons that an NFL primetime package drew more than 21 million viewers since the 1992-1996 seasons of Monday Night Football on ABC;
LIVE, LIVE, LIVE...HEAD-TO-HEAD ON SUNDAY NIGHTS IN THE FALL
In the two full primetime hours of Sunday Night Football - 9-10 p.m. and 10-11 p.m. - NBC's SNF has been dominant in head-to-head competition against all other shows in the LIVE metric, reflecting viewer choice at that moment.
Following are the top four regularly-scheduled programs in HH rating and Adult 18-49 rating in each of those head-to-head hours in THE FALL TV season (LIVE ratings, Sept.-Dec. 2014):
9 p.m. hour - U.S. Household Rating
| Program | HH Rating | SNF Advantage |
| Sunday Night Football | 12.6 | -- |
| Madam Secretary | 7.1 | 77% |
| The Good Wife | 5.8 | 117% |
| The Walking Dead | 4.9 | 157% |
9 p.m. hour - Adult 18-49 Rating
| Program | Adult 18-49 Rating | SNF Advantage |
| Sunday Night Football | 7.5 | -- |
| The Walking Dead | 4.7 | 60% |
| Family Guy | 2.1 | 257% |
| Madam Secretary | 1.4 | 436% |
10 p.m. hour - U.S. Household Rating
| Program | HH Rating | SNF Advantage |
| Sunday Night Football | 11.6 | -- |
| The Good Wife | 5.9 | 97% |
| The Mentalist | 5.0 | 132% |
| CSI | 4.7 | 147% |
10 p.m. hour - Adult 18-49 Rating
| Program | Adult 18-49 Rating | SNF Advantage |
| Sunday Night Football | 7.1 | -- |
| The Talking Dead | 2.2 | 223% |
| The Good Wife | 1.1 | 545% |
| The Mentalist | 1.1 | 545% |
While final live plus seven data for the broadcast TV season will not be available for a few weeks, according to Nielsen's most current data stream (with live plus seven through April 26), Sunday Night Football leads the No. 2 primetime show in the following metrics:
- Average Viewership - Sunday Night Football averaged 21.5 million viewers, more than 1.5 million above the 19.9 million for The Walking Dead(season complete for both shows).
- Household Rating - Sunday Night Football posted a 12.6 HH rating, topping the 11.6 for NCIS and Big Bang Theory.
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