Sports

Two-Part Sunday Night Football Viewership Release

New York, NY and Los Angeles, CA

Cowboys-Redskins is most-watched and highest-rated NBC regular season primetime game ever. 30.3 Million and 17.0 rating top all NBC regular-season primetime NFL games. Cowboys-Redskins is most-watched and highest-rated NFL game this season. Most-watched NFL regular-season primetime game in 16 years. Highest-rated NFL regular-season primetime game in 15 years.

The Cowboys-Redskins Sunday Night Football game on NBC is now the most-watched and highest-rated NFL regular-season primetime game ever on NBC, the most-watched NFL regular-season primetime game on any network in 16 years, and the highest-rated and most-watched NFL game this season, according to official national data released today by The Nielsen Company.

Sunday’s game on NBC, in which the Redskins defeated the Cowboys, 28-18, to win the NFC East in America’s game of the week, was seen by 30.3 million viewers, 10 percent higher than last year’s Week 17 game (Cowboys-Giants, 27.62 million), which was also a win-and-in game to determine the winner of the NFC East, and the previous most-watched NBC regular-season primetime NFL game. It also topped the 28.7 million for the Redskins-Cowboys Thanksgiving Day game on Fox, which had been the most-watched NFL game on ANY network this season. 

Other Viewership and Ratings Notes for Cowboys-Redskins:

  • Most-watched regular-season primetime game on ANY network in 16 years (Packers-Cowboys, 31.5 million, Nov. 18, 1996 on ABC).
  • Most-watched NFL primetime regular-season final game in 18 years (32.0 million for 49ers-Vikings, Dec. 26, 1994 on ABC).
  • Most-watched Cowboys-Redskins regular-season primetime game in 19 years (31.1 million on Sept. 6, 1993 on ABC).
  • The Cowboys-Redskins game received a 17.0 national household rating and a 27 share, up eight percent from last year’s Week 17 game (Cowboys-Giants, 15.7/25), making it the highest-rated Sunday Night Football broadcast ever.
  • The two highest-rated NFL games this season are Sunday’s Cowboys-Redskins game and the Sunday Night Football Week 1 game (Steelers-Broncos, 16.5/26).
  • Cowboys-Redskins game is most-watched television program on any network (not including the London Olympics) since the Academy Awards (39.3 million on Feb. 26, 2012).

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