Sunday Night Football is off to Highest-Rated Start in 7 Year History

Sunday Night Football is No. 1 Primetime Program of 2012-2013 Television Season

NBC’s seven-game household rating of 13.4/21 is the best start in the seven-year history of Sunday Night Football, and the highest-rated start to a season for an NFL primetime package in 13 years (13.5/21 household rating for ABC in 1996).

The six-week viewership for seven games (22.1 million) is slightly below from 2011 (22.2 million) and is the second most-watched start to a season for a primetime package in 16 years (24.5 million in 1996 on ABC).

SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL THROUGH 6 WEEKS:

• Year: 2012
  Viewers: 22.1 million
  2+ HH Rating: 13.4/21
• Year: 2011
  Viewers: 22.2 million
  2+ HH Rating: 13.3/21
• Year: 2010
  Viewers: 21.4 million
  2+ HH Rating: 12.9/21
• Year: 2009
  Viewers: 19.7 million
  2+ HH Rating: 11.9/19
• Year: 2008
  Viewers: 16.6 million
  2+ HH Rating: 10.2/17
• Year: 2007
  Viewers: 16.5 million
  2+ HH Rating: 10.4/17
• Year: 2006
  Viewers: 17.2 million
  2+ HH Rating: 11.1/18

PACKERS-TEXANS:

Sunday’s game on NBC, in which the Packers blew out the Texans, 42-24, drew 19.9 million viewers, up 13% from last year’s Week 6 SNF game (16.6 million for Vikings-Bears). It is the most-watched Week 6 game in SNF history, and the most-watched Week 6 primetime game in 12 years (22.0 million for Bucs-Vikings, 10/9/00 on ABC).

• The household rating of 11.8/18 for Sunday’s Packers-Texans game is up 17% from last year’s Week 6 SNF game (10.1/16 for Vikings-Bears) and is the highest-rated Week 6 primetime game in 12 years. 
• Sunday’s game went head-to-head with Game 1 of the National League Championship Series on Fox. It is the most-watched and highest-rated NFL primetime game vs. MLB LCS playoffs in 16 years (26.5 million for 49ers-Packers on 10/14/96).
• Every Week 6 Sunday Night Football game in its seven-year history faced MLB LCS playoffs.

SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL WEEK 6 GAMES:

• Year: 2012
  Game: Packers vs. Texans
  Viewers 2+, HH Rating: 19.9 million, 11.8/18
• Year: 2011
  Game: Vikings vs. Bears
  Viewers 2+, HH Rating: 16.6 million, 10.1/16
• Year: 2010
  Game: Colts vs. Redskins
  Viewers 2+, HH Rating: 19.1 million, 11.7/19
• Year: 2009
  Game: Bears vs. Falcons
  Viewers 2+, HH Rating: 18.2 million, 10.9/17
• Year: 2008
  Game: Patriots vs. Chargers
  Viewers 2+, HH Rating: 13.1 million, 8.2/13
• Year: 2007
  Game: Saints vs. Seahawks
  Viewers 2+, HH Rating: 11.2 million, 7.1/11
• Year: 2006
  Game: Raiders vs. Broncos
  Viewers 2+, HH Rating: 12.3 million, 7.9/12

SNF NO. 1 SHOW FOR OF PRIMETIME SEASON: For the official primetime television season, Sunday Night Football ranks as the No. 1 show among viewers, households and all key adult and male demographics. Additionally, it is the No. 4 show among women 18-34 and No. 5 among women 18-49.

SNF DOMINATES SUNDAY NIGHT: The Packers-Texans Sunday Night Football broadcast easily won the night facing original network programming including Game 1 of the National League Championship Series on Fox. NBC led the night among viewers 2+ in primetime with 17.2 million viewers (7:30-11 p.m. ET) topping the 10.1 million for second-place CBS by 69%. NBC also beat Fox, (9.2), which was aided by an NFL overrun and Game 1 of the NLCS, by 86% and ABC (7.1 million) by 142%. NBC also won the night in households and all key adult and male demographics.

Sunday Night Football has won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Live Sports Series each of the last four years.

TOP 10 METERED MARKETS FOR PACKERS-TEXANS:

1. Milwaukee: 51.9/68
2. Houston: 32.6/46
3. New Orleans: 19.7/27
4. Minneapolis: 18.6/29
5. Las Vegas: 17.1/28
6. Austin: 16.6/26
7. Richmond: 15.5/22
8. Chicago: 15.3/23
9. Denver: 15.2/26
10. Phoenix: 14.8/24

Follow NBC Sports PR on Twitter @NBCSportsPR

Follow "Sunday Night Football" on Twitter @SNFonNBC

Follow NBC SportsTalk on Twitter @NBCSportsTalk

Become a fan of "Sunday Night Football" on Facebook at:

Facebook.com/SNFonNBC

Visit SNF All-Access at: http://snfallaccess.nbcsports.com/