Broncos-Colts scores big TV ratings
NBC earned a 17.3 overnight for the Denver Broncos-Indianapolis Colts telecast to lead all Sunday NFL windows, according to Sports Business Daily.
The rating for Peyton Manning's return to Indianapolis marked NBC's fourth-best regular-season overnight since it acquired the Sunday night package in 2006.
The game's rating was also the best October NFL primetime overnight in 15 years, dating back to a 17.5 for ABC's Minnesota Vikings-Green Bay Packers Monday night game on Oct. 5, 1998.
Sunday night's game was up 48 percent from an 11.7 overnight for the Pittsburgh Steelers-Cincinnati Bengals matchup in Week 7 last year, which aired against Game 6 of the National League Championship Series between the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals.
Indianapolis and Denver set local ratings records for a Sunday night telecast. It earned a 49.6 local rating in Denver and a 49.1 in Indianapolis.
CBS earned a 15.2 overnight for the national window Sunday, which featured the Baltimore Ravens-Steelers and Houston Texans-Kansas City Chiefs games. That figure is down 6 percent from Week 7 last year, when the network's national window featured New York Jets-New England Patriots matchup.
CBS received a 10.7 overnight its regional window Sunday, which featured the Jets' overtime win over the Patriots. That figure is up 49 percent over last season's Week 7 regional window.
Fox averaged an 11.8 overnight for its Week 7 single game, down 8 percent from last season.
