The NFL Continues to Rack Up Impressive Numbers

Another release I can post for you. Once again, the NFL has amassed some impressive viewership numbers reaching a milestone 25 million people in the late afternoon slot for Week 15. That’s amazing considering this fractured TV landscape is nothing like it was back when there was no cable. Very impressive.

NFL TELECAST TOPS 25 MILLION VIEWERS FOR SEVENTH TIME IN 2009

FOX National Game Featuring Packers-Steelers & 49ers-Eagles

Week’s Most-Watched Show

NFL Tops Ratings in 28 Local Markets

The FOX doubleheader game (mostly Green Bay-Pittsburgh and San Francisco-Philadelphia) was the most-watched show on TV last week (Dec. 14-20) with 25.8 million viewers and marked the seventh NFL telecast to top 25 million viewers this season – up from three such broadcasts in the entire 2008 season and the most since nine in 1996. 

The seven NFL telecasts are the only shows – sports and entertainment – this TV season to top 25 million viewers.

NBC’s Sunday night game (Eagles-Giants) ranked third among the week’s programs with 18.2 million viewers. NFL Network’s Saturday night game (Cowboys-Saints) was the most-viewed telecast ever on the network as 10.5 million cable viewers tuned in.

NFL games topped the local ratings in 28 NFL markets last week.

Following are the NFL markets where football was the top-rated program for the week of Dec. 14-20:

Week of 12/14-20			HH	HH	RTG
Market	Game	Date	RTG	SHR	Rank
New Orleans**	Cowboys at Saints	12/19/09	52.3	73	1
Pittsburgh	Packers at Steelers	12/20/09	44.5	65	1
Minneapolis	Vikings at Panthers	12/20/09	40.7	59	1
Cincinnati	Bengals at Chargers	12/20/09	40.7	64	1
Milwaukee	Packers at Steelers	12/20/09	40.1	64	1
Indianapolis**	Colts at Jaguars	12/17/09	40.0	57	1
Baltimore	Bears at Ravens	12/20/09	37.1	53	1
Denver	Raiders at Broncos	12/20/09	34.5	64	1
San Diego	Bengals at Chargers	12/20/09	33.7	58	1
Boston	Patriots at Bills	12/20/09	33.3	57	1
Philadelphia	49ers at Eagles	12/20/09	32.3	48	1
Nashville	Dolphins at Titans	12/20/09	32.2	57	1
Dallas-Ft. Worth**	Cowboys at Saints	12/19/09	31.6	54	1
Jacksonville**	Colts at Jaguars	12/17/09	29.8	46	1
Buffalo	Patriots at Bills	12/20/09	27.8	51	1
Phoenix*	Cardinals at 49ers	12/14/09	27.1	40	1
Cleveland	Browns at Chiefs	12/20/09	24.3	48	1
Charlotte	Vikings at Panthers	12/20/09	22.8	34	1
Chicago	Bears at Ravens	12/20/09	22.4	41	1
Tampa	Bucs at Seahawks	12/20/09	21.1	38	1
San Fran-Oakland*	Cardinals at 49ers	12/14/09	19.2	38	1
Miami	Dolphins at Titans	12/20/09	19.0	41	1
Seattle	Bucs at Seahawks	12/20/09	18.6	43	1
Atlanta	Falcons at Jets	12/20/09	17.4	34	1
Kansas City	Dolphins at Titans	12/20/09	16.4	36	1
Houston	Texans at Rams	12/20/09	15.5	36	1
New York	Falcons at Jets	12/20/09	15.2	28	1
Washington, DC	49ers at Eagles	12/20/09	14.5	29	1

* Local affiliate & ESPN combined

** Local affiliate & NFL Network combined         

Source: NFL & Nielsen Media Research

What else can you say about the NFL’s ratings?