Sunday Overnights: Baseball Rules Over Football

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SUNDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2017

What follows are the metered market household results by half-hour for Sunday, October 29, 2017:

Household Rating/Share
Fox: 11.9/19, NBC: 7.2/12, CBS: 5.6/ 9, ABC: 2.0/ 3

-Percent Change From the Year-Ago Opening Sunday (9/25/16):
CBS: – 3, ABC: – 9, Fox: -16, NBC: -18

Ratings Breakdown:
In the batttle of baseball versus football, Game 5 of “The World Series” (Astros 13, Dodgers 12) on Fox reigned supreme with an estimated 11.9 rating/19 share in the household overnights for the primetime portion. This did not include averages past 10 p.m. ET for the 5 hour and 17 minute game. One year earlier, the Game 5 match-up between the Cleveland Indians and the Chicago Cubs was notably stronger at a 15.3 household rating.

Competing “Sunday Night Football” on NBC, Pittsburgh Steelers 20, Detroit Lions 15, averaged an approximate 9.4/14 in the overnights from 8:30-11:30 p.m. As a reminder, results for any live sporting event are always estimated.

Earlier in the evening on Fox was a football overrun at a hefty 13.4/23 in the 7 p.m. half-hour, followed by post-game “The OT” at an 11.0/19 at 7:30 p.m. (#2).

On CBS, all Sunday night program averages are estimated due to the primetime line-up beginning at 7:36 p.m. ET. Veteran “60 Minutes” was on the overnight map with an 8.3/13 in the 7 p.m. hour. Next was freshman drama “Wisdom of the Crowd” at a 5.1/ 8 at 8 p.m., followed by “NCIS: Los Angeles” (#3: 4.8/ 7) and “Madam Secretary” (#2: 4.2/ 7) from 9-11 p.m.

ABC, which has downgraded freshman drama “Ten Days in the Valley” to Saturday effective with two episodes on Dec. 16, will fill the Sunday 10 p.m. hour with an extra episode of “Shark Tank” until further notice. Facing baseball and football, the assumption was that last night’s 10 p.m. telecast would be a repeat. But ABC, instead, choose back-to-back original installments, which both finished a distant fourth in their time periods with a 2.6/ 4 at 9 p.m. and a 2.3/ 4 at 10 p.m. My programming crystal ball tells me “Shark Tank” will be back on Friday night by midseason.

Earlier in the evening on ABC was sophomore “The Toy Box” at a modest 1.3/ 2 (#4) at 7 p.m., followed by an encore telecast of animated classic “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” at a 2.0/ 3 (#4) at 8 p.m.

What follows are the household overnight results for Sunday, October 29:

7:00 p.m.
ABC – “The Toy Box”: 1.4/ 2 (#3t)
CBS – “60 Minute”: 8.3/14 (#2)
NBC – Football Night in America, part 1: 1.4/ 2 (#3t)
Fox – Football: 13.4/23 (#1)

7:30 p.m.
ABC – “The Toy Box”: 1.2/ 2 (#4)
CBS – “60 Minutes”: 8.3/13 (#2)
NBC – Football Night in America, part 2: 3.4/ 6 (#3)
Fox – “The OT”: 11.0/19 (#1)

8:00 p.m.
ABC – “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” (R): 2.1/ 3 (#4)
CBS – “Wisdom of the Crowd”: 5.9/ 9 (#2)
NBC – Football Night in America, part 3: 5.8/ 9 (#2)
Fox – “World Series” – Game 4 (Houston Astros vs. Los Angeles Dodgers): 11.5/19 (#1)

8:30 p.m.
ABC – “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” (R): 1.9/ 3 (#3)
CBS – “Wisdom of the Crowd”: 4.3/ 6 (#2)
NBC – Sunday Night Football (Pittsburgh Steelers at Detroit Lions): 8.8/14 (#2)
Fox – “World Series” – Game 4 (Houston Astros vs. Los Angeles Dodgers): 12.5/19 (#1)

9:00 p.m.`
ABC – “Shark Tank”: 2.6/ 4 (#4)
CBS – “NCIS: Los Angeles”: 4.9/ 7 (#2)
NBC – Sunday Night Football (Pittsburgh Steelers at Detroit Lions): 10.0/15 (#2)
Fox – “World Series” – Game 4 (Houston Astros vs. Los Angeles Dodgers): 11.6/18 (#1)

9:30 p.m.
ABC – “Shark Tank”: 2.5/ 4 (#4)
CBS – “NCIS: Los Angeles”: 4.7/ 7 (#2)
NBC – Sunday Night Football (Pittsburgh Steelers at Detroit Lions): 10.1/15 (#2)
Fox – “World Series” – Game 4 (Houston Astros vs. Los Angeles Dodgers): 11.9/18 (#1)

10:00 p.m.
ABC – “Shark Tank”: 2.3/ 4 (#4)
CBS – “Madam Secretary”: 4.4/ 7 (#3)
NBC – Sunday Night Football (Pittsburgh Steelers at Detroit Lions): 8.7/14 (#2)
Fox – the overnight results were not available for this half-hour

10:30 p.m.
ABC – “Shark Tank”: 2.4/ 4 (#4)
CBS – “Madam Secretary”: 4.0/ 7 (#3)
NBC – Sunday Night Football (Pittsburgh Steelers at Detroit Lions): 8.6/14 (#2)
Fox – the overnight results were not available for this half-hour

Source: Nielsen Media Research