Wednesday night’s ‘NFL Kickoff’ was the third-most watched “NFL Kickoff” game in the 11-year history of the event, according to fast national data released today by The Nielsen Company. While facing strong competition from the Democratic National Convention, which aired on multiple broadcast and cable networks, the game dominated the night in primetime more than doubling the combined delivery of ABC and CBS.
The NFL East rivalry, won by the Cowboys 24-17 over the Giants in the first NFL game played on a Wednesday since 1948, was seen by 23.9 million viewers (8:41-11:30 p.m. ET), the third-most watched “NFL Kickoff” game, only surpassed by last year’s Saints-Packers thriller, a match-up of the two previous Super Bowl winners (27.1 million), and the 2010 opener (Vikings-Saints, 27.5 million) which featured an NFC Championship Game rematch between the Minnesota Vikings, led by quarterback Brett Favre, and the then-defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints.
Last night’s game had a national household rating of 14.7/23, the third-highest rated NFL Kickoff game behind only the last two years (16.5/28 in 2010 and 16.0/26 in 2011).
NBC DOMINATES PRIMETIME: The NFL game on NBC faced strong competition from the Democratic National Convention on CBS and ABC, as well as on multiple cable news networks. The 14.7 rating and 23.9 million for the game more than doubles the night’s primetime averages of ABC and CBS combined, according to preliminary fast-affiliate averages for those networks (3.3/5 in households and 5.1 million viewers overall for CBS from 8-11 p.m. ET, and 2.5/4 and 3.6 million for ABC).
NFL KICKOFF VIEWERSHIP:
(All Games on Thursday Night Except for Last Night’s)
2012
NBC
23.9 million
(Dallas 24 – NY Giants 17)**
2011
NBC
27.1 million
(Green Bay 42 – New Orleans 34)
2010
NBC
27.5 million
(New Orleans 14 – Minnesota 9)
2009
NBC
20.9 million
(Pittsburgh 13 – Tennessee 10)
2008
NBC
13.5 million
(NY Giants 16 – Washington 7)*
2007
NBC
17.8 million
(Indianapolis 41 – New Orleans 10)
2006
NBC
19.2 million
(Pittsburgh 28 – Miami 17)
2005
ABC
18.0 million
(New England 30 – Oakland 20)
2004
ABC
16.9 million
(New England 27 – Indianapolis 24)
2003
ABC
19.1 million
(Washington 16 – NY Jets 13)
2002
ESPN
10.8 million
(San Francisco 16 – NY Giants 13)
** Wednesday Night Game (First Wednesday NFL game since 1948)
* Early start due to Republican National Convention
TOP METERED MARKETS FOR COWBOYS-GIANTS:
1. Dallas
34.0/50
2. Norfolk
26.8/37
3. Richmond
24.6/35
4. San Antonio
24.5/35
5. Austin
22.5/37
6. Milwaukee
21.6/31
7. Albuquerque
20.0/30
8. New York
20.0/29
9. Indianapolis
19.7/30
10. Washington, D.C.
19.5/31
NOTE: New Orleans market, the No. 1 SNF market in 2011 is excluded from metered market averages due to Hurricane Isaac.
(source: NBC)
