Taking down the previously unbeaten Kansas City Chiefs last night Tom Brady pulled off some NFL history on Sunday Night Football as the New England Patriots quarterback became the first signal-caller to win 200 regular season games.
Up against an NFL delayed 60 Minutes with its Donald Trump sitdown plus the second episode of The Walking Deads transformative new season and the Boston Red Soxs 7-5 win over reigning MLB champs the Houston Astros in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series on cable, the Patriots 43-40 victory put NBC and the NFL back in the game, at least in the ratings.
In metered market results, last nights SNF snagged a big league 14.6/25.
Easily taking the top primetime prize for the night, the hard fought Pats v. Chiefs match-up was up 18% in the early metrics from the Houston Texans win over the Dallas Cowboys last week. For the fifth week in a row, SNF was also up double digits from the 2017/2018 season with a very impressive 34% leap over the New York Giants 23-10 crushing over the Denver Broncos on October 15, 2017.
That latter game was also up against the zombie apocalypse of the Fear The Walking Dead Season 3 finale and some high stakes MLB too. The Giants and Broncos battle of last years Week 6 ended up with 16.2 million viewers and a 5.6/19 rating among adults 18-49.
Sprinkling a bit more gridiron stardust on a clearly chuffed NBC and the NFL, last nights SNF was the best the Comcast-owned nets flagship football show has done in the metered markets since the opening game of last season. Additionally, because everybody loves the stats, the Patriots close win over the now beaten Chiefs is tied with the comparable 2015 game for the best Week 6 early ratings result that NBC has had over 13 years of SNF.
On a Sunday that saw Foxs afternoon game up 18% in the metered markets over 2017 and NFL ratings holding steady overall with the controversy weighed down season of last year, last nights SNF was obviously a season high so far for the NBC broadcast.
BTW – last weeks Lone Star state showdown ended up with a 6.0/24 among the key demo and an audience of 18.6 million. Do some more math and it looks pretty certain last nights game is clearing 20 million viewers at the very least.
As we await those results, and the rest of last nights primetime, Trump and all, ponder some of Tom Bradys skill in motion:
He did it again.
Highlights from Tom Bradys 200th regular season victory! #KCvsNE pic.twitter.com/hvwFkGVvye
— NFL (@NFL) October 15, 2018
And heres the top 10 local markets for the game, which peaked with a 16.2/30 MM rating in the crucial 11 – 11:30 PM ET time slot:
1. Kansas City 49.6/67
2. Boston 34.3/51
3. Providence 31.1/48
4. New Orleans 21.7/30
5. Denver 19.5/32
6. Norfolk 16.8/27
7. Richmond 16.8/26
8. Greensboro 16.6/27
9. Dallas 16.3/27
10. Pittsburgh 16.3/25
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