Sunday Night Football’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Arizona Cardinals scored a Christmas primetime win for NBC, according to Nielsen’s live plus same-day figures.
As football fans tuned in to see Tom Brady go head-to-head with Kyler Murray, NBC’s Sunday Night Football earned a viewership of 17.1 million and a 4.20 ratings score in the key demographic — a slight increase from last week’s New York Giants vs. Washington Commanders Sunday Night Football game which brought in 15.4 million viewers and scored a 3.93 in ratings on average.
Here’s how primetime broke down across the major broadcast networks:
NBC was first in ratings with an average 3.22 rating in the key demo and first in total viewers with an average of 13.3 million, according to Nielsen data. “Football Night in America” kicked off the night at 7:00 p.m. with a 0.40 ratings score and 2.5 million viewers on average while Sunday Night NFL pre-kickoff show steadily grew its audience by earning a 3.4 ratings score and drawing 13 million viewers on average leading up to the game.
CBS was second in ratings with an average 1.42 in the demo and in total viewers with an average of 6.7 million. Post-game coverage for the previously televised Rams vs. Broncos started off the night strong with a 4.36 ratings score — the highest of the night — and 16.8 million viewers on average before the 8:00 p.m. Christmas edition of “60 Minutes Presents” garnered a ratings score of 0.81 and a viewership of 5.3 million on average. The network closed out the evening with re-runs of “East New York,” with the 9:00 p.m. airing drawing in 0.31 in ratings and 2.5 million viewers on average while the 10:00 p.m. broadcast earned a 0.23 ratings score and drew in 2.2 million viewers.
ABC was third in ratings with an average 1.15 in the demo and in total viewers with an average of 3.8 million. “NBA Countdown” started off the night with 1.12 in the key demo and drew in 3.7 million viewers on average before the 8:00 p.m. Memphis Grizzlies vs. Golden State Warriors game, which earned a ratings score of 1.07 and a viewership of 3.5 million on average. The 10:30 Phoenix Suns vs. Denver Nuggets ended the night with a 0.52 ratings score and 1.7 million viewers on average.
Fox was fourth in ratings with an average 0.25 in the demo and in total viewers with an average of 964,000. The network drew a ratings score of 0.29 and a viewership of 1.2 million on average with its 7:00 p.m. rerun airing of “TMZ’s Merry Elfin’ Christmas” before broadcasting reruns of “Family Guy” and “Bob’s Burgers.”
The CW was fifth in ratings with an average 0.05 in the demo and in total viewers with an average of 407,000 as a rerun of holiday special “Christmas Around the World” at 8:00 p.m. earned a rating score of 0.05 and drew in 407,000 viewers.
Neither The CW nor Fox air primetime programming at 10 p.m.
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