We embark on this item fully aware of the fact that: (1) we’ll be called shills for NBC (again); (2) we’ll be reminded by P.R. folks from other networks that we rarely mention their ratings triumphs; and (3) the e-mails from the P.R. folks from other networks will contain reminders of their most recent ratings triumphs, in the hopes that we’ll mention them.
And we’re fine with that. Because the fact that Sunday night’s game between the Eagles and the Cowboys generated the biggest audience in the history of Sunday Night Football is amazing to us, given that one of the teams had won only four of 12 games when the game began.
The contest attracted 25.73 million viewers, a 23-percent increase over last year’s Week 14 game between the Eagles and Giants. The number topped the 25.68 million who watched the Vikings-Packers game on October 24.
The game also generated a rating of 15.2, the second-highest SNF rating ever.
It shows the power of the Dallas Cowboys, who can put asses (or at least eyeballs) in the seats even when they stink.
While we’re on the topic, SNF has drawn the biggest audience and highest rating on each of 14 Sunday nights, and it’s the top-rated show to date of the 2010 prime-time television season.
We’ll now resume our usual approach of being far more subtle in our shilling for NBC.