Months of preparation, hundreds of staff, convoys of cutting-edge gear: inside the machine that crafts prime time’s most popular entertainment: NBC’s Sunday Night Football.
The San Fransisco 49ers defeat of the Dallas Cowboys is without a doubt the talk of the town for Week 5 of the NFL regular season. Sunday night’s matchup on NBC drew 24.3M viewers on linear TV — which rose to 26.3M when streaming viewership was factored in. That was by far the most-watched game of the week and, in fact, is the most-watched Week 5 NBC Sunday Night Football game since the program began in 2006.
“We got a call from our friends at NBC sports asking us to put tonight’s story in language that the legions of Swifties would understand,” Daly explained. With Swift’s Welcome to New York playing in the background, the Voice host went on to use the singer’s song titles (or parts of song titles) to explain the upcoming game. Pictured: Taylor Swift, second from left, Brittany Mahomes, second from right, and Ryan Reynolds, right, stand before an NFL football game between the New York Jets and the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, Oct. 1, in East Rutherford, N.J. (Adam Hunger/AP)
The NFL said Sunday that it is implementing flex scheduling for next week’s primetime Sunday Night Football matchup on NBC, jettisoning the planned Los Angeles Rams-Los Angeles Chargers game in favor of a Pittsburgh Steelers-Baltimore Ravens showdown with greater playoff implications.
Melissa Stark will be NBC’s new sideline reporter for Sunday Night Football. Stark, 48, is currently at the NFL Network. She was the sideline reporter for ABC’s Monday Night Football from 2000 to 2003. She went on to be a correspondent for Today on NBC. She is replacing Michele Tafoya. Tafoya is pursuing a career in politics, which includes being a commentator.
The veteran sportscaster, who has called a handful of SNF games in the past few years, had been widely expected to take the job following Al Michaels’ decision to exit NBC after his contract expired. Tirico will join long-time Sunday Night Football analyst Cris Collinsworth in the booth.
Exclusives
As we discover far too often, history loves to repeat itself — in the NFL and otherwise. That was sadly the case for Sunday Night Football’s season kickoff between the hometown advantage Los Angeles Rams and the Chicago Bears on NBC on Sept. 12.
Al Michaels (left) is being pulled from Sunday Night Football this weekend “in accordance with NBCUniversal COVID-19 safety protocols,” NBC Sports said on Friday. Mike Tirico will replace Michaels on the primetime play-by-play.
It has been known for a long time that Disney/ABC/ESPN would be very aggressive in negotiating for more NFL, the most valuable programming in television. However, according to sources, it is more than that as the pitch Disney is making to the NFL is that it currently pays the most so it deserves the best primetime regular-season schedule. On top of that, according to officials familiar with the negotiations, Disney/ABC/ESPN wants to acquire two separate NFL packages.
NBC’s perennially top-rated Sunday Night Football broadcasts will sound fairly normal this fall, Executive Producer Fred Gaudelli promised Thursday, but they will feature fewer crowd shots due to few if any fans attending games.
Sunday Night Football has been primetime’s most watched television program for the last eight seasons. And its reign looks secure. According to NBC, the broadcast is, through 12 games over 11 weeks, averaging 20.5 million total viewers across platforms — its highest 11-week average since 2015.
The 97-year-old actress is one of the main attractions in NBC’s next push to bring broader audiences to its soon-to-launch season of Sunday Night Football. A promo featuring White has the actress talking about a looming Sept. 5 match-up (a Thursday) between the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears, telling viewers: “There’s only one thing more badass than this year’s kickoff — and you’re looking at her.”
This season, NBC’s Sunday Night Football will open with the original “Waiting All Day for Sunday Night” song, but now Carrie Underwood will be joined by Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Joan Jett. Jett’s band, the Blackhearts, perform on the studio tracks.
On Wednesday, a songwriting team filed a lawsuit in Manhattan federal court against singer Carrie Underwood, the NFL and NBC, saying they stole a song and used it to introduce Sunday Night Football during the 2018-19 season.
NBC is getting grief over its decision to air an election ad from President Trump that focuses on the migrant caravan in Mexico. The airing of the ad came around 10:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, about two hours into NBC’s Sunday Night Football broadcast in a game between the Green Bay Packers and the New England Patriots. It also comes a day after news surfaced that CNN had declined to air the spot, calling it “racist.”
The regular season’s final Sunday Night Football telecast has been scrapped, after the NFL shuffled the Dec. 31 schedule to, simply said, keep that NBC late game from possibly being meaningless.
NBCUniversal has acquired rights from the NFL to stream Sunday Night Football through NBC’s “TV Everywhere” offering to mobile phones for the first time, beginning with the 2018 season.
Patriots Bring Welcome Lift To Sunday NFL
The New England victory over the Atlanta Falcons on NBC is the NFL’s best primetime showing since week one.
Sunday Night Football Down In Week 3
The Sunday Night Football matchup between the Washington and Oakland delivered a one-sided game for viewers and a weakened ratings return for NBC. With Washington dominating throughout and ultimately winning 27-10, Sunday Night Football averaged an 11.6 rating in Nielsen’s metered-market household numbers. That’s down 11% from early numbers for the third week of the season last year.
When the new season of Sunday Night Football kicked off last night — yes, on a Thursday — it will mark the 10th anniversary of the NBC franchise. But the more impressive milestone will likely come this spring. Barring the unforeseen, Sunday Night Football will finish its sixth straight season as television’s most-watched show, tying American Idol for the most consecutive ratings crowns in TV history.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Carrie Underwood won’t be “waiting all day for Sunday night” this fall when NBC premieres a new theme song for its prime-time “Sunday Night Football” program. […]
‘Sunday Night Football’ Is Best Show On TV
It’s not just the finest sports program. It’s the most artful and exciting show, period. It belongs in the same conversation as The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, Orange Is the New Black.
Football Beats Emmy Awards In Ratings Game
Despite increased competition from Fox’s Emmy Awards,
Sunday night’s game between the Green Bay Packers and the Seattle Seahawks on NBC averaged a 16.3 household rating, according to Nielsen metered markets, up 16% from the week two game last year.
For the second consecutive year, NBC’s Sunday Night Football is TV’s costliest show for advertisers, with a 30-second spot in the 2013-14 season averaging $593,700 in upfront negotiations, up 8.9% from $545,142 last year.
Sunday Night Football Beats CBS, Emmys
The Emmys were popular last night and ultimtaely won in total viewers, but NBC’s Sunday Night Football remained the top Sunday show when it comes to the key 18-49 demographic. The game between the Chicago Bears and Pittsburgh Steelers averaged a 5.5 overnight rating for that age group and a 15 share. CBS, with its 3.5 hour Emmys broadcast, was narrowly behind at 4.8/13. Fox came in third with repeats of The Simpsons and Bob’s Burgers. ABC was fifth for a repeat of Once Upon a Time.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Carrie Underwood has taken the handoff from Faith Hill to perform the musical introduction for NBC’s “Sunday Night Football,” but don’t expect the two country superstars […]
NEW YORK (AP) — Carrie Underwood will take over the theme song for “Sunday Night Football,” with NBC sticking to the formula of a female country music star for its […]
The two parties are holding early-stage talks about renewing Sunday Night Football, a package that has been with NBC since 2006 and is the cornerstone of the fourth-ranked network’s primetime schedule. While the current deal doesn’t expire until 2013, sources say NBC wants to get a deal done early as it prepares to negotiate higher retrans fees from cable and satellite operators.
Football Gives NBC Fifth Straight Sun. Win
Sunday Night Football continues to bring in big ratings for NBC, propelling the network to its fifth consecutive Sunday night win, while ABC’s Pan Am dropped 27% in the coveted adults 18-49 demo versus last week. With the defending Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers playing the Atlanta Falcons, a team it bounced from the playoffs last year, the game notched a 14.0 overnight rating. That’s up 20% from last year’s week five game and up 30% from 2009.
Buyers: NBC’s A Shoo-In For Sundays
Sunday night may be the easiest night to predict this fall. Media buyers and planners predict that NBC will be an easy winner on the night, based on the strength of Sunday Night Football, a show they predict will see ratings rise once again this season after tying for No. 1 with American Idol last year.
