Patriots-Cowboys Game Snares Huge TV Audience

Even the National Football League can reach new territory sometimes. It's still all about who is playing, and maybe once or twice a season there's matchup that brings in new viewers.

CBS' telecast of the New England Patriots-Dallas Cowboys last Sunday drew 29.1 million viewers, rendering it the most-watched NFL regular-season game on a Sunday since Dallas-San Francisco on Fox drew 29.7 million viewers in November 1996. The Patriots won 48-27 to stay undefeated.

The game had an average Nielsen rating of 18.0, up 44 percent from last year's 12.5 for Chiefs-Steelers in the comparable window and the highest-rated regular-season game since Denver-San Francisco on ABC earned an 18.0 in December 1997 for a "Monday Night Football" game.

Meanwhile, NBC earned a 7.1 Nielsen rating (11.2 million viewers) for New Orleans Saints-Seattle Seahawks "Sunday Night Football" this week, its lowest-rated game of the year.

So clearly the undefeated Patriots-Cowboys matchup (both came into the game 5-0) was the key, even in this era of audience fragmentation.