• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, December 3, 2007

Although it is available in less than 40% of the country, the NFL Network led all Big Four networks last Thursday in the key 18-to-49 demo as it carried the much-hyped battle between Dallas and Green Bay.

For the night (8 to 11 p.m.), NFL Network posted a 4.1 average in 18-to-49--soundly ahead of CBS's 3.5 and more than a rating point in front of third-place NBC's 3.0. NFLN averaged 5.4 million 18- to-49-year-olds, nearly 850,000 ahead of second-place CBS.

NFLN also finished first in the 25-to-54 demo in the "live plus same day" numbers, albeit by a scant margin--but it trailed CBS by more than 2 million in total viewers. The NFL Network likely benefited from CBS and ABC airing repeats of some of television's highest-rated shows.

In 25-to-54, NFLN averaged a 4.29 rating compared to second-place CBS's 4.26, a difference of about 40,000 people. With total viewers, CBS won the night at 11.9 million, with NFLN coming in second at 9.7 million--an average of 879,000 in front of third-place Fox.

NFLN's first-place 18-to-49 finish on television's critical Thursday night came despite its distribution in only 43 million homes, 38% of the country. The network is carried by satellite providers DirecTV and Dish Network, but isn't available in most cable homes.

Although NFLN won the 18-to-49 demo with viewers who watched its own feed, the game was actually viewed by even more people since it was also available on broadcast stations in about 3.7 million homes in the NFL "home markets" of Dallas, Milwaukee and Green Bay.

To be sure, the game's ratings were helped by networks running repeats of top shows such as "Grey's Anatomy" on ABC, "CSI" on CBS and "The Office" on NBC--although there were also new episodes of "Survivor" on CBS and "My Name is Earl" and "ER" on NBC. Fox offered new episodes of two reality series that are so-so performers.

Dallas-Green Bay was the subject of an immense pre-game build-up with two 10-1 teams facing each other. And both the Cowboys and Packers with quarterback Brett Favre (who was injured as Dallas went on to win) are top draws.

NFLN's average of 5.4 million 18-49 viewers (4.1 rating in the demo) outperformed CBS with 4.5 million and a 3.5 rating. Third-place NBC averaged 3.9 million 18- to-49-year-olds (3.0), followed by Fox at 3.5 million (2.7) and ABC at 3.1 million (2.3).

ABC, which performs strongly on Thursdays, had a repeat of "Ugly Betty" in addition to "Grey's," but aired a new episode of "Big Shots" at 10. The Cowboys and Packers finished after the other networks went off the air at 11.

In total viewers, as CBS offered a repeat of "Without a Trace" along with "CSI," it averaged 11.9 million--compared to NFLN's second-place 9.7 million (about 55% of NFL Network's viewers were 18- to-49-year-olds). Fox was third at 8.8 million, followed by NBC at 6.9 and ABC at 6.7.

Dallas-Green Bay's performance more than doubled NFLN's Indianapolis-Atlanta game on Thanksgiving night the week before, but that game had to contend with new episodes of top shows, any post-Thanksgiving-dinner hangovers and the lack of a marquee match-up.

Besides on the NFL Network, Thursday's Cowboys-Packers game was available on local stations in Dallas, the country's fifth-largest market, with 2.4 million homes; Milwaukee with 891,000; and Green Bay with 440,000. Some homes in those markets with DirecTV or Dish, for example, may have been able to watch on either NFLN or the local channel.

Among the six games the NFLN has left this season, the New England-New York Giants game on Saturday Dec. 29 looks to be a potential hit, especially if the Patriots go into the game undefeated and the Giants are battling for playoff position.

NFLN, owned by the league, isn't available in most cable homes as operators have balked at paying the carriage fees the network has been seeking.