Last night’s Sunday Night Football Lone Star state showdown between the Houston Texans and the Dallas Cowboys was the worst of times and the best of times for DeAndre Hopkins.
The worst of times was a clumsy fumble by the Texans wide receiver in the third quarter handing a big advantage to the visiting Cowboys in a game that had little room for error. The best clearly came in overtime as Hopkins snagged a 49-yard pass from Texans QB Deshaun Watson that moved the Texans into position for a field goal from Ka’imi Fairbairn that delivered the 19-16 win after a long night. As for the big draw Cowboys, this is the team’s third loss in a row on the road and that’s gotta hurt more than just Jerry Jones, if you know what I mean?
However, with a 12.4/22 in metered market results, NBC and the NFL were feeling almost as good as the Houston Texans.
On a day that saw Eric Reid back in the game with the Carolina Panthers and protesting on the sidelines in another match-up and an on-field cameo promo by NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt, that SNF Week 5 result of the current NFL season was, with a 0.8% rise, basically the same as what the Baltimore Ravens 26-14 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers pulled in on September 30. Year-to-year, where the spotlight will shine bright, NBC’s flagship NFL show jumped 17% last night from the Texans’ 42-34 loss to the then unbeaten Kansas City Chiefs on October 8, 2017.
A season low in the early metrics, last week’s SNF ended up with 16.2 million viewers and a 6.1.24 rating among adults 18-49. Also a season low at the time, the 2017/2018 season Week 5 SNF got an audience of 16.5 million and a 5.8/20 rating among the key demo. Unlike last year’s Week 5, last night’s SNF faced the season opener of The Walking Dead, which could prove a wild card in the final numbers.
Not surprising, last night’s game peaked in the tense fourth quarter with a 13.3/26 in metered markets. Overall, easily winning the night among the Big 4, last night’s SNF is the best the show has done in a Week 5 since 2015, which is the kind of stat networks love to share.
As always, we will update with those final SNF numbers, as well as the Shark Tank season opener, the predecessor heavy Madam Secretary premiere and more when they come in later.
While we wait, here’s a little Texas context from Mr. Friday Night Lights himself Kyle Chandler:
Tonight, under the lights in Texas, Sunday Night Football is so much more than a game.
Narrated by @nbcfnl‘s Kyle Chandler. Football Night in America starts at 7PM ET on NBC. pic.twitter.com/sHKv7ycGB8
— SNF on NBC (@SNFonNBC) October 7, 2018
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