Prime-time NFL football draws its biggest audience in 15 years

"Sunday Night Football" drew the largest audience in its six seasons on NBC, but CBS was the most-watched network in a week with little original prime-time programming.

The New York Giants' 31-14 victory over the Dallas Cowboys, which assured them of the NFC East championship and ended the Cowboys' hopes of making the playoffs, averaged 27.62 million viewers, according to live-plus-same-day figures released Wednesday by The Nielsen Co.

NBC's previous "Sunday Night Football" high was 25.77 million viewers for the Dallas-New York Jets game on Sept. 11.

Sunday's game was also the most-watched NFL regular-season prime-time game since Nov. 18, 1996, when a "Monday Night Football" game on ABC between the Cowboys and Green Bay Packers averaged 31.5 million viewers.

CBS was the most-watched network for the 12th time in the season's 15 weeks, averaging 8.2 million viewers for its prime-time programming Dec. 26-Jan. 1. It had nine of the week's 14 most-watched programs, topped by "60 Minutes," which was fourth overall, averaging 14.45 million viewers.

"60 Minutes" benefited from a 33-minute runover of CBS' NFL coverage in the Eastern and Central time zones that averaged 29.63 million viewers. The runover is not considered a separate program, but is included in the weekly prime-time averages.

NBC was second among the major broadcast networks, averaging 6.34 million viewers, followed by ABC, which averaged 4.71 million, and Fox, which averaged 2.91 million.

The week's most-watched entertainment program was ABC's "Dick Clark's Primetime New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2012" which averaged 12.92 million viewers, finishing sixth overall.

The audience was the largest for "Dick Clark's Primetime New Year's Rockin' Eve," which has aired on ABC since 2000.

NBC led among viewers ages 18-49, the group it, ABC, and Fox target and advertisers covet because it watches less television and is harder to reach.

NBC was also first among viewers ages 18-34 and 25-54, while CBS was first among viewers 50 and over, a group it has long dominated.

ABC and CBS both aired 22 hours of prime-time programming for ratings consideration for the week, NBC 21 1/2 hours the first 30 minutes of "Football Night in America" run without commercials and are not counted in the ratings and Fox 14 hours, 33 minutes.

ESPN's "Monday Night Football" game between the Atlanta Falcons and New Orleans Saints was the week's most-watched prime-time cable program, averaging 15.64 million viewers, finishing third among all prime-time broadcast and cable programs, behind only "Sunday Night Football" and its 10-minute pregame show, which averaged 21.23 million viewers.

A schedule dominated by college football bowl games made ESPN the most-watched cable network in prime time, averaging 5.91 million viewers, more than all the broadcast networks except for CBS and NBC.

Univision was the most-watched Spanish-language network as usual, averaging 3.49 million viewers for its prime-time programming.

Telemundo was second among the Spanish-language networks, averaging 1.31 million viewers, followed by TeleFutura, which averaged 540,000, Estrella TV, which averaged 220,000, and Azteca America, which averaged 140,000.

The week's most-watched Spanish language program was the conclusion of the Univision telenovela "La Fuerza del Destino" ("The Power of Destiny") Dec. 26, which averaged 6.21 million viewers, 28th among all prime-time broadcast and cable programs.

The "NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams" finished first among the network nightly newscasts for the 120th consecutive week and 167th time in the past 168 weeks, averaging 8.71 million viewers for its Tuesday through Thursday editions.

ABC's "World News with Diane Sawyer," was second, averaging 7.96 million viewers for its Tuesday through Thursday broadcasts.

The "CBS Evening News" was third for the 275th consecutive week and 30th since Scott Pelley became anchor, averaging 6.16 million viewers from Tuesday through Thursday.

NIELSEN PRIME-TIME RATINGS

Prime-time television viewership numbers compiled by The Nielsen Co. for Dec. 26-Jan. 1. Listings include the week's ranking and viewership for the week.

1. "Sunday Night Football," NBC, 27.62 million viewers

2. "Sunday Night Football Kickoff Show," NBC, 21.23 million viewers

3. "Monday Night Football," ESPN, 15.64 million viewers

4. "60 Minutes," CBS, 14.45 million viewers

5. "Football Night in America" (Part 3), NBC, 14.44 million viewers

6. "Dick Clark's Primetime New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2012," ABC, 12.92 million viewers

7. "NCIS," CBS, 12.58 million viewers

8. "Criminal Minds," CBS, 10.60 million viewers

9. "The Big Bang Theory," CBS, 10.16 million viewers

10. "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 9.74 million viewers

11. "NCIS: Los Angeles," CBS, 9.17 million viewers

12. "The Mentalist," CBS, 8.90 million viewers

13. "Person of Interest," CBS, 8.51 million viewers

14. "The 34th Annual Kennedy Center Honors," CBS, 8.40 million viewers

15. "New Year's Rockin' Eve: The 40th Anniversary Party," ABC, 8.36 million viewers

16. "Two and a Half Men," CBS, 8.15 million viewers

17. "Rules of Engagement," CBS, 7.59 million viewers

18. "Mike & Molly," CBS, 7.38 million viewers

19. "CSI: NY," CBS, 7.29 million viewers

20. "Football Night in America" (Part 2), NBC, 7.25 million viewers