NFL games on TV get high ratings

According to a release from the National Football League and Nielsen, in addition to ranking as the year’s most-watched television show, this Sunday’s Super Bowl XLVII on CBS culminates three years of record-breaking NFL TV viewership.
  
Fall 2010 was the NFL’s most-viewed season reaching a total of 207.7 million fans on television with all five of the NFL’s television partners posting viewership increases. 
 
Since September 1, 2010, NFL games have accounted for the majority of television’s most-watched shows, including:
  
55 percent of all TV shows averaging 20 million viewers*
70 percent of all TV shows averaging 30 million viewers*
92 percent of all TV shows averaging 40 million viewers *
*based on live + same day viewership (minimum show length: 30 minutes)
  
From September 1, 2010 through January 27, 2013, NFL games accounted for 135 of the 247 TV shows (55 percent) reaching at least 20 million average viewers, according to live + same day viewership information provided by The Nielsen Company.
  
Following is a full breakdown:
  
247 shows reached at least 20 million average viewers:
  
135 NFL games (103 regular season games & 32 postseason games)(CBS, FOX, NBC, NFL Network and ESPN)
 39 American Idol (FOX)
 18 London Summer Olympics (NBC)
 18 Dancing with the Stars (ABC)
 11 NCIS episodes (CBS)
  5 College football games (including 3 BCS National Championship Games)(ESPN)
  3 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parades
  2 Post-Super Bowl entertainment programs (The Voice & Glee)(NBC and FOX)
  2 Academy Awards (ABC)
  2 Academy Awards Red Carpet Shows (ABC)
  2 Grammys (CBS)
  2 NCAA Championship Men’s Basketball Games (CBS, TruTV and TBS)
  2 World Series games (2011) (FOX)
  2 Two and a Half Men episodes (CBS) 
  2 New Year’s Rockin Eve shows (ABC)
  1 Big Bang Theory episode (CBS)
  1 NBA Finals game (2011) (ABC) 
 
43 shows reached at least 30 million average viewers:
30 NFL games (24 postseason games & 6 regular-season games)(NBC, ESPN, FOX, NFL Network and CBS)
 9 London Summer Olympics (NBC)
 2 Academy Awards (ABC)
 1 Grammys (CBS)
 1 Post-Super Bowl entertainment program (The Voice)(NBC)
  
12 shows reached at least 40 million average viewers: 
11 NFL games (all postseason games)(NBC, CBS and FOX)
 1 London Sumer Olympics (Opening Ceremony) (NBC)

In other NFL/TV news...

The National Football League and Nielsen annunced this week in a release that the AFC and NFC Championship Games ranked as TV’s most-watched programs since Super Bowl XLVI.
  
The Baltimore Ravens-New England Patriots AFC Championship Game on CBS drew 47.7 million viewers, based on The Nielsen Company’s Fast National ratings. The San Francisco 49ers-Atlanta Falcons NFC Championship Game on FOX drew 42.0 million viewers, which marks the fourth consecutive year that each conference championship game drew 41 million viewers.
  
Five 2012 playoff games averaged at least 35 million viewers – tying the record set last year.
 
Since the Summer Olympics, nine NFL games have accounted for the only programs on television to reach 30 million viewers – four Divisional playoff games, two Conference Championship Games, two Wild Card playoff games and the final Sunday Night Football game.