Broncos/Colts Give NBC Highest-Rated SNF of the Season Thus Far

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NBC Sports reported today that last night’s Sunday Night Football (SNF) telecast between the Broncos and Colts registered an overnight rating of 17.3, making it the highest-rated SNF game of the season and the highest rated prime time October NFL telecast in 15 years.

Here’s more from NBC PR:

The previous best October primetime NFL overnight was a 17.5 for Minnesota-Green Bay on ABC on Oct. 5, 1998, as the Vikings beat the Packers 34-27.

The 17.3 for the Colts’ down-to-the-wire 39-33 Sunday Night Football victory is the fourth-highest overnight in the eight-year history of NBC’s primetime package (including “NFL Kickoff” games). Following are NBC’s highest overnight ratings for a regular-season game since the debut of Sunday Night Football in 2006:

Game, Date	Overnight	Highlights
Dallas-Wash., 12/30/12	18.3	Rookie Robert Griffin III leads Redskins to NFC East title with 28-18 victory in “win-and-in” Week 17 matchup. Game posted highest regular-season primetime overnight on any network in 15 years.
Pittsburgh-Denver, 9/9/12	18.0	Peyton Manning debuts with a new team (Denver) after missing ’11 season with neck injury, and throws his 400th career TD pass in Broncos’ come-from-behind 31-19 victory.
Minn.-New Orleans, 9/9/10	17.7	Drew Brees leads defending-champion Saints over Brett Favre and Vikings 14-9 in NFC Championship Game rematch in Thursday “NFL Kickoff” opener.
Denver-Indy, 10/20/13	17.3	QB Andrew Luck accounts for 4 TDs to lead Colts to a 39-33 win over Broncos in Peyton Manning’s return to Indianapolis.
N.O.-Green Bay, 9/8/11	17.2	Aaron Rodgers passes for 312 yards and three scores to lead defending-champion Packers to 42-34 win over Drew Brees (419 yards and 3 TDs) and Saints in Thursday “NFL Kickoff” opener.

NBC’s Sunday primetime average (13.5/22 from 7-11 p.m. ET in metered-market households) is the highest for any broadcast network on a Sunday night since the Academy Awards on Feb. 24 (22.2/34 on ABC) and topped second-place CBS by 50% (9.0/14).