POSTED: Monday November 16th 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PATS-COLTS "RIVLARY OF THE DECADE" DELIVERS SECOND BEST "SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL" OVERNIGHT RATING THIS YEAR

15.1 Rating Trails Only Giants-Cowboys, Which Was Best Overnight For Primetime NFL Game in 11 Years - SNF Powers NBC to Another Sunday Night Win and Again is Top Rated Program of Sunday Night

  NEW YORK – Nov. 16, 2009 – Last night’s Patriots-Colts thriller on NBC
Sports had the second best overnight rating for a “Sunday Night
Football” game this season and the best Week 10 overnight in SNF
history. The Colts 35-34 come-from-behind victory earned a 15.1
overnight rating and 24 share to power NBC to a Sunday Night victory as
SNF again was the top rated program of Sunday night as it has been for
eight of nine Sundays.



The rating peaked at a 16.2/24 from 9:30-10 p.m. ET when the Patriots
led 24-14 and then dipped to a 14.1/25 at the beginning of the fourth
quarter (11:00 p.m. ET) when it seemed the Pats had the game in hand
with a 31-14 lead.  The rating then grew to a 15.5/30 from 11:30-11:45
when Peyton Manning led the Colts back to win the game 35-34.



SECOND BEST SNF OVERNIGHT RATING THIS YEAR: Last night’s game
(8:30-11:45 p.m. ET) was the second-highest overnight rating of the
season for “Sunday Night Football” trailing only the Week 2 Giants
33-31 victory over the Cowboys in the much-hyped debut of the new
Cowboys stadium.  That game drew an overnight rating of a 16.5/27,
which was the highest overnight rating for an NFL primetime
regular-season game in 11 years.



BEST WEEK 10 RATING IN SNF HISTORY: The 15.1/24 rating is the best for
a Week 10 matchup, which is in the November sweeps period, in the
four-year history of “Sunday Night Football” on NBC, up 22 percent over
the Week 10 game last season (Giants-Eagles, 12.4/20) up 19 percent
over the Week 10 game in 2007 (Colts-Chargers, 12.7/20), and up 11
percent from the Week 10 game in 2006 (Bears-Giants, 13.6/20).



TIED FOR 4TH BEST EVER ON SNF: The 15.1/24 overnight rating is tied
with the 2006 edition of the Pats-Colts “Rivalry of the Decade” for the
fourth-best overnight rating in “Sunday Night Football” history.



DOMINATED PRIMETIME: “Sunday Night Football” is the No. 1 program of
the night in the metered markets (excludes overruns of NFL day games)
for the eighth time in nine Sundays this season on a night that
included originals of ABC’s Desperate Housewives and Brothers &
Sisters, CBS’s 60 Minutes and Amazing Race and Fox’s Simpsons,
Cleveland Show and Family Guy.



Head-to-head from 9-10 p.m., “Sunday Night Football” nearly doubled
ABC’s Desperate Housewives in the metered markets out-rating Housewives
by a margin of 90% (16.0 vs. 8.4 in that hour).



NBC is No. 1 for the night in metered-market households, with the
network’s highest Sunday average (11.4/18 from 7-11 p.m. ET) since
September 20 (Giants-Cowboys game).  NBC’s margin of victory was 50
percent over second place Fox (11.4 vs. 7.6).



TOP 10 “SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL” OVERNIGHT RATING/SHARE EVER:

1. 9/20/09, Giants-Cowboys, 16.5/27 (Dallas Cowboys stadium debut)

2. 11/25/07, Eagles-Patriots, 15.6/24

3. 12/14/08, Giants-Cowboys, 15.4/24

T4. 11/15/09, Patriots-Colts, 15.1/24 (Last Night’s Game)

T4. 11/5/06, Colts-Patriots, 15.1/22

6. 9/10/06, Colts-Giants, 14.7/23 (“Manning Bowl”)

7. 9/21/08, Cowboys-Packers, 14.4/22

8. 11/8/09, Cowboys-Eagles, 14.3/23

T9. 9/9/07, Giants-Cowboys, 13.6/22

T9. 11/12/06, Bears-Giants, 13.6/20



TOP 10 METERED MARKETS FOR PATRIOTS-COLTS:

1. Indianapolis, 39.0/53

2. Boston, 35.4/54

3. Providence, 31.9/47

4. New Orleans, 25.6/34

5. Nashville, 24.7/36

6. Las Vegas, 21.5/31

7. Memphis, 20.0/27

8. San Diego, 19.3/30

9. Richmond, 18.3/25

10. West Palm Beach, 18.2/27



**Viewership numbers will be available when national ratings are released tomorrow**




       Members of the media can get more information about NBC
Universal and its programming on the NBC Universal Media Village Web
site at www.nbcumv.com.

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Keywords · NBC · NFL · Patriots · Colts

Name: Adam Freifeld
Organization: NBC
Email:
Phone: +1.212-664-6772

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