The decline of TV viewership for the NFL has been a common talking point during the 2016 season, but thrilling games between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys, and the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks proved that there is still an audience for some good football.
Sunday’s NFL TV ratings surge for Week 10 didn’t carry over to Monday night
A couple of huge games launched the NFL’s TV ratings back to the stratosphere. Monday night’s game didn’t fare as well.
Jason Bridge-USA TODAY Sports
While Sunday saw two of the season’s most highly rated games to date, the ratings for Monday night football dipped.
The Cowboys and Steelers dueled in a 4:25 p.m. ET game that featured three lead changes in the final two minutes. It was the NFL’s dream come true. Two of the most popular teams with the biggest fanbases battling on a broadcast carried in every market except a few areas on the West Coast, and living up to the hype with arguably the most entertaining game of the year.
According to Steelers director of communications Burt Lauten, the game drew a 17.8 household rating — making it the highest rated NFL telecast of the 2016 season.
Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated reported higher numbers:
While it’s still down, that game was still close to the three most watched games from last season, which were all Cowboys games as well. This, despite the Cowboys not being all that great last season.
It was followed by a rematch of Super Bowl XLIX between the Seahawks and Patriots on Sunday Night Football that was also as thrilling as anyone could’ve hoped with seven lead changes and some poetic justice in a down-to-the-wire finish.
That game earned a 14.3 rating, making it the highest-rated Week 10 SNF game in five years and 13 percent higher than the Week 10 SNF game in 2015.
Monday night’s game, a 21-20 Giants win over the Bengals, drew a 7.9 overnight rating, down over last season’s Week 10 Monday night game, which featured the Texans and Bengals. Last week’s Monday night game between the Bills and Seahawks drew a 7.8 overnight rating.
There are plenty of reasons why the ratings have been poor in 2016 and there are long-term concerns that weren’t fixed Sunday. But the brief surge is a reminder that if there’s good football on TV, there is still an audience there to soak it in.
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