NFL Week 3 Ratings Down, Sort Of, But Not Really

How did the controversy surrounding Donald Trump and national anthem protests affect the NFL's ratings for Week 3?

As of Monday morning, it's a mixed bad. Ratings for Sunday's games on CBS, FOX and NBC were down four percent over Week 3 in 2016. However, when the rating for the Cowboys-Cardinals game, to be played Monday night on ESPN, gets factored in, Week 3 of this season is expected to be up over last season.

Overnights from Sunday's game are down around -4% on Fox/CBS/NBC combined: 45.9 vs 48.0. Week 3 likely to be up once MNF gets factored in.
— John Ourand (@Ourand_Puck) September 25, 2017

With the networks making the unusual move to air the national anthem live before all games, CBS and FOX saw big increases for their respective pregame shows. CBS' The NFL Today had its highest rating (3.2) since 2010.

Overnights from Fox and CBS pregame shows were up 19% yesterday combined: 6.9 vs 5.8.
— John Ourand (@Ourand_Puck) September 25, 2017

In addition to curiosity about players kneeling during the anthem, CBS and FOX benefited from many wild games and finishes in both the early and late windows.

CBS's overall game coverage was up four percent from last year's Week 3, averaging an 11.9 rating compared to 11.4 last season. The network's Bengals-Packers game overtime game was the highest-rated game on any network this week, netting a 13.8 rating.

However, NBC's Sunday night game between the Raiders and Redskins was anything but exciting and the rating reflected that.

NBC drew an 11.6 overnight rating for Raiders-Redskins last night. Lowest for a Week 3 "SNF" since 2006 (Broncos-Patriots, 10.7 overnight)
— Austin Karp (@AustinKarp) September 25, 2017