Big Sunday Night Football Game Tops Nielsens

iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — Star quarterback Peyton Manning’s return to Indianapolis on Sunday night proved to be a ratings winner for NBC.

The network’s Sunday Night Football telecast of Manning and the Denver Broncos’ loss to the Indianapolis Colts drew nearly 27 million viewers.  It was Manning’s first game in Indianapolis since he left the Colts in 2012 after 14 seasons.

The game was easily the most-watched program for the week ending Sunday.  The CBS hit NCIS was the runner-up, with 18.8 million viewers.

CBS averaged the most primetime viewers of any network for the week, followed by NBC, ABC, Fox, Univision, the CW, Telemundo and ION Television.

Here are the top 10 primetime network and cable programs for the week of Oct. 14-20, according to the Nielsen Company:

1. NFL Football: Denver vs. Indianapolis, NBC, 26.94 million
2. NCIS, CBS, 18.83 million
3. The Big Bang Theory, CBS, 17.8 million
4. Football Night in America, NBC, 15.29 million
5. 60 Minutes, CBS, 14.95 million
6. NCIS: Los Angeles, CBS, 14.64 million
7. The Walking Dead, AMC, 13.95 million
8. The Voice (Monday), NBC, 13.78 million
9. Dancing with the Stars, ABC, 12.99 million
10. The Voice (Tuesday), NBC, 12.99 million

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