SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL GAINS GROUND

NBC’s Sunday Night Football returned to the top of the weekly Nielsen ratings heap last week as the game between the Dallas Cowboys and the New Orleans Saints drew 21.1 million viewers. Last week’s most-watched program, CBS’s NCIS slipped to No. 2 with 19.2 million viewers, while the CBS comedy The Big Bang Theory remained in third place with 16.9 million, edging out the CMA Awards special on ABC with 16.8 million viewers. With the return of Standard Time, all three evening newscasts saw ratings improvements. NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams experienced a surge in viewers as 9.3 million viewers tuned in compared to 8.7 million during the previous week. ABC World News with Diane Sawyer came in second with 8.1 million viewers versus 7.8 million a week earlier, followed by the CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley, which also saw an audience surge with 7.4 million viewers, up from 6.8 million during the prior week. For the week, CBS remained the most-watched network overall (and tied with NBC among 18-49-year-old viewers) with a 7.0 household rating and an 11 share. NBC placed second with a 5.3/8, followed by ABC with a 5.1/8. Fox, however, sank to a 2.3/4, representing its smallest audience in nearly a year.