The power of the NFL.

The official release from NBC:

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NBC’s Sunday Night Football finished the 2013-14 television season as the No. 1 show in primetime in household rating, viewership and the coveted Adult 18-49 demographic, based on live plus same day data from The Nielsen Company (September-May).

This marks the third consecutive television season — and the only three times on record — that a sports series has been the highest-rated and most-watched show of the primetime TV season. 

For the 2013-2014 primetime television season, Sunday Night Football ranks as the highest-rated (12.8), most-watched show (21.7 million, viewers 2+), and the No. 1 broadcast program across the key demographics of Adults 18-49, 18-34, 25-54 as well as Men 18-49, 18-34 and 25-54 and Women 18-34 and 18-49.

In addition, 12 SNF games averaged at least 20 million viewers, tying NBC’s Sochi Winter Olympics for most primetime telecasts with 20 million viewers (not including pre-/post-shows).

Following is a look at primetime telecasts averaging at least 20 million viewers from Sept. 5, 2013-May 21, 2014 (based on live plus same day data):

*Four NFL postseason games in primetime: Super Bowl XLVIII, NFC Championship Game, AFC Divisional Playoff, NFC Wild Card Playoff

Also notable from the 2013-14 TV season (based on live plus same day data):

• The 21.7 million average viewers for Sunday Night Football tops second place NCIS (16.9 million) by nearly five million viewers;

• The 2010-13 seasons of Sunday Night Football are the first four seasons that an NFL primetime package drew more than 21 million viewers since the 1993-1996 seasons of Monday Night Football on ABC;

• In the advertiser-coveted Adult 18-49 demographic, Sunday Night Football ranks as the No. 1 show for the fourth consecutive TV season and tops the second place show by 18% (8.0 vs. 6.8 for The Walking Dead);

• Sunday Night Football’s win in the Women 18-49 demographic marks the first time ever that a sports series has ranked No. 1 among the broadcast networks in this category for a full TV season. This is the second consecutive season that SNF finished No. 1 among the broadcast networks among Women 18-34 (tied with The Voice for No. 1 last season).

While final live plus seven data for the broadcast TV season will not be available for a few weeks, according to Nielsen’s most current data stream (with live plus seven through May 4), Sunday Night Football leads the No. 2 primetime show in the following metrics:

• Average Viewership – Sunday Night Football averaged 21.9 million viewers, nearly two million more than 20.0 million for Big Bang Theory.
• Household Rating – Sunday Night Football posted a 12.8 HH rating, topping the 12.4 for NCIS.