Football Driving Winter TV Ratings

Football is holding up its end of the bargain in winter TV ratings again, boosting NBC, CBS and ESPN.

College football's championship game on ESPN endured a slip in Nielsen ratings from last year, but its 25.67M viewers were good enough for third place in the Jan. 11-17 period.

That game was beaten in the week only by playoff football. NBC's broadcast of an NFC playoff game between Green Bay and Arizona was No. 1 with 33.73M viewers, and a CBS postgame show for the AFC's Pittsburgh-Denver game was second with 31.17M viewers.

Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for Jan. 11-17. Listings include the week's ranking and viewership.

1. NFL Playoff: Green Bay at Arizona, NBC, 33.73 million.
2. "NFL Playoff Post-Game," (Pittsburgh at Denver), CBS, 31.17 million.
3. College Football Championship: Alabama vs. Clemson, ESPN, 25.67 million.
4. "College Football Championship Post-Game," ESPN, 23.65 million.
5. "NFL Playoff Pre-Game," (Green Bay at Arizona), NBC, 21.81 million.
6. "60 Minutes," CBS, 20.62 million.
7. "The Big Bang Theory," CBS, 15.75 million.
8. "NFL Playoff Post Game" (Kansas City at New England), CBS, 13.72 million.
9. "Madam Secretary," CBS, 11.87 million.
10. "College Football Championship Pregame," ESPN, 11.73 million.
11. Republican Presidential Debate, Fox Business Network, 11.09 million.
12. "NCIS," CBS, 10.97 million.
13. "Blue Bloods," CBS, 10.62 million.
14. Democratic Presidential Debate, NBC, 10.16 million.
15. "American Idol" (Wednesday), Fox, 9.77 million.
16. "Hawaii Five-0," CBS, 9.48 million.
17. "Criminal Minds," CBS, 9.33 million.
18. "Life in Pieces," CBS, 9.15 million.
19. "The Good Wife," CBS, 8.97 million.
20. "The Big Bang Theory" (Monday), CBS, 8.87 million.

Games, pregame and postgame shows made up seven of the top 10 shows, booting Fox Business' GOP debate to 11th place with 11.09M viewers.Of non-football programs that broke the top 10, it was all CBS again: 60 Minutes (featuring Charlie Rose's interview with Sean Penn, and taking a lead-in from the Pittsburgh-Denver game) took the No. 6 spot with 20.62M viewers; The Big Bang Theory was seventh with 15.75M; and Madam Secretary was ninth with 11.87M.