NBC’s Sunday Night Football Draws Record 19.4 Million Viewers for 2009 Season

NBC’s Sunday Night Football finished the season as the No. 1 show in primetime (Adults 18-49) and averaged 19.4 million viewers, a gain of 17% from last year (16.6 million). In the four years since the shift of the NFL’s premier primetime package from Monday to Sunday nights, SNF is averaging more than three million more viewers than the last season of Monday Night Football on ABC (16.2 million in 2005).

Football Night in America drew a record 7.4 million viewers, up 18% over last season (6.3 million), and SNF’s 11.7 rating and 19 share for the 2009 season in households is 15% higher last year (10.2/16), according to Nielsen Media Research.

“The increase of 3 million viewers who now watch the NFL on Sunday night is a tribute to Roger Goodell, Paul Tagliabue, the NFL television committee, and Steve Bornstein, who all wholeheartedly embraced, from the beginning, that the greatest opportunity for growth for the primetime broadcast package would be the move to Sunday night, America’s most-watched night,” says Dick Ebersol, Chairman, NBC Universal Sports and Olympics. “These results are a tribute to them as well as to the best sports fans in America.”

In addition to the gains seen by Sunday Night Football on NBC this season, when the final viewership numbers are available later this week, Fox, CBS, ESPN and the NFL Network will also report increased viewership for the 2009 season.