TV ratings: ‘Sunday Night Football’ helps NBC win the night

“Sunday Night Football” championed TV ratings, according to early numbers from Nielsen.

The Cincinnati Bengals-New England Patriots game, which aired from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. PDT on NBC, earned a rating of 6.9 in the key 18-to-49-year-old demographic. The game averaged 18.1 million viewers, dominating the night both in the key demo and overall.

With help from football programming, NBC was No. 1 in the key demo with a rating of 5.5 and averaged almost 15-million viewers.

However, due to the nature of live sports, ratings for Fox and CBS from 7 to 7:30 p.m. and NBC for the night are approximate and may change.

A NFL over-run on CBS was the second-most-watched broadcast of the night, averaging 16.7-million viewers and a rating of 5.0 in the key demo.

With the benefit of a football lead-in, “60 Minutes” surged 48% in viewership, averaging 14.3-million viewers. The program was third most watched of the night and sixth most watched in the key demo with a rating of 2.5.

Also on the network, CBS’ new political show “Madam Secretary” was up 21% from last week’s episode with a rating of 1.7. It rounded out the top five most-watched programs overall with about 12.2-million viewers.

“The Good Wife” averaged 10.5-million viewers and a rating of 1.4 in the key demo, up 8% from last week.

The network was second to NBC with roughly 12.3-million viewers and a rating of 2.2 in the key demo.

Meanwhile, ABC’s “Once Upon a Time” was the No. 1 most-watched nonsports program in the key demo with a rating of 3.1. It averaged 8.6-million viewers.

ABC’s “Resurrection” averaged 6.2 million viewers. With a rating of 1.8 in the key demo, the show was down 28% from last week.

With a rating of 1.3 in the key demo, “Revenge” also saw a slight decrease of 13% from last week. It averaged 4.9 million viewers.

ABC was the third most-watched network of the night with roughly 5.7-million viewers.

On Fox, the season premiere of “Bob’s Burgers” was up 56% from last season’s finale in the key demo. It earned a rating of 1.4 in the key demo and averaged 3.2-million viewers.

However, the premiere of the network’s new sitcom “Mulaney” didn’t fare as well. The show earned a 1.0 in the key demo and averaged 2.3 million viewers.

“The Simpsons,” though down 49% from last week’s premiere, was the seventh-most-watched program in the key demo with a rating of 2.0.

The network also aired episodes of “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” which earned a rating of 1.6 in the key demo, and “Family Guy,” which earned a rating of 1.9 in the key demo.

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