Giants Crush Broncos As ‘Sunday Night Football’ Ratings Steady In Week 6

On the night of the Season 3 finale of Fear The Walking Dead and the second National League Championship Series face-off between the Chicago Cubs and the Los Angeles Dodgers, plus a full slate on the rest of the Big 4 and another day of NFL national anthem controversy, it wasn’t going to be easy for Sunday Night Football this week.

The zombie apocalypse and MLB aside, it wasn’t easy for the Denver Broncos either, as the New York Giants whooped them 23-10 in an audacious upset in Colorado. The lopsided victory resulted in last night’s high-altitude primetime game snaring a 10.9/18 in metered market ratings.

While a strong and much needed win for the previously winless Giants, it was also a rare victory for the league and the network – and that’s besides Al Michaels’ extremely ill-considered Harvey Weinstein joke, for which he later apologized on-air after being slammed on social media.

Related‘Fear The Walking Dead’ Exiting Co-Creator On ‘TWD’ Crossover & Tonight’s Finale

In the early numbers, last night’s 8:30-11:15 PM ET Week 6 game is up a slight 3% from the metered market results of the then-unbeaten Kansas City Chiefs’ 42-34 win over the Houston Texans on October 8. Year-to-year, in what has been a season nearing double-digit declines from last year’s ratings-challenged season, the Giants-Broncos last night was up 21% from the then season-low of the Texans’ OT win over the Indianapolis Colts on October 16, 2016.

To add context, that 2016 Week 6 game, which also faced a Cubs-Dodgers NLCS Game 2 on cable, marked a five-year low for SNF. The Texans-Colts game went on to draw a 4.9/16 among adults 18-49 and a small (for SNF) 13.60 million viewers. Last week’s game pulled in a 5.8/20 in the demo with a a total audience of 16.53 million.

On CBS, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 19-13 shattering of the Chiefs’ winning streak was a real winner for the House of Moonves. The late afternoon game delivered a 14.0/7, up 7%, to snag the best metered market results for any NFL game this weekend.

Last night’s SNF peaked in the second quarter 9:30-10 PM ET slot with an 11.7/19 MM rating.

We’ll update with more SNF numbers, NCIS: LA and the rest of the night later. We’ll also remind you that even with the Super Bowl rematch of sorts of the New England Patriots vs. the Atlanta Falcons next week on SNF, The Walking Dead is back for its Season 8 premiere and 100th episode, so expect one of those heavyweights to get their mouthguard knocked out. In the meantime, here are the Top 1o local markets for last night’s game:

1. Denver – 38.2/58

2. Albuquerque – 16.3/26

3. Philadelphia – 15.4/25

4. New Orleans – 15.0/21

5. Richmond – 14.9/23

6. Norfolk – 14.8/22

7. New York – 14.3/23

8. San Diego – 12.9/23

9. Buffalo – 12.7/20

10. Washington -12.6/23

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