Fast National ratings for Sunday, September 9, 2012.
Peyton Manning’s return to NFL game action powered an overwhelming Sunday ratings win for NBC, with FOX the only other relevant network thanks to its own football coverage.
For the night, NBC averaged a 7.8 rating in the demographic of adults 18-49, and 20.11 million viewers overall. FOX was next (4.1, 9.62 million), followed by CBS (1.5, 7.17 million) and ABC (0.7, 2.8 million).
7 p.m. — FOX easily won this hour thanks to late-running afternoon NFL games and “The O.T.” post-game show, which combined to average a 7.5 demo rating and 18.39 million viewers. That was followed by NBC’s “Football Night in America” pre-game show (3.1, 8.75 million), a U.S. Open overrun and “60 Minutes” on CBS (1.7, 9.69 million) and a “Once Upon a Time” repeat on ABC (0.6, 2.5 million).
8 p.m. — Between the end of “Football Night in America” and the kick-off of the Broncos-Steelers game, NBC averaged a 9.0 in the demo and 23.1 million viewers for the hour. A combination of “60 Minutes” and “Big Brother” made CBS (2.4, 10.14 million) the next most-watched network for the hour, though a pair of “Simpsons” repeats on FOX (2.6, 6.03 million) were second in the demo. Another “Once Upon a Time” repeat did only slightly better (0.7, 3.01 million) than the first.
9 p.m. — More football dominance, with NBC averaging a 9.9 in the demo and 25.28 million viewers, followed way off in the distance by “Family Guy” repeats on FOX (2.1, 4.44 million), “Big Brother” and half of a “Good Wife” repeat on CBS (1.3, 4.91 million) and yet another “Once Upon a Time” rerun on ABC (0.8, 2.81 million).
10 p.m. — Football crushed all comers again for NBC (9.3, 23.3 million). A combination of “The Good Wife” and a “The Mentalist” rerun were second (0.6, 3.93 million), followed by the night’s final “Once Upon a Time” repeat (0.8, 2.87 million).