49ers Can Win NFC West With Win Against Red – Hot Seahawks On “Sunday Night Football”

Coverage Begins with Football Night in America at 7 p.m. ET

NEW YORK – December 20, 2012 – Colin Kaepernick and the San Francisco 49ers (10-3-1), who have clinched a Wild Card spot and are currently leading the NFC West, travel to Seattle to take on Russell Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks (9-5), who have won three-in-a-row, five of their last six games, and are undefeated at home this season, in an NFC West matchup on Sunday Night Football. With a win, the 49ers will secure their second straight division title. A Seahawks victory keeps Seattle alive to win the NFC West. Coverage begins with Football Night in America at 7 p.m. ET on NBC.

Calling 49ers-Seahawks is six-time Emmy Award-winner Al Michaels (play-by-play), in his 27th season as the voice of the NFL’s premier primetime package; 13-time Emmy Award-winner Cris Collinsworth, who has won the Emmy for Outstanding Event Analyst in each of his three seasons in the Sunday Night Football booth; and sideline reporter Michele Tafoya, who, last year in her first season with SNF, won the inaugural Emmy Award for Outstanding Sports Reporter.

Football Night in America is hosted by 24-time Emmy Award-winner Bob Costas, who will report from CenturyLink Field in Seattle, Wash. Costas will be joined on site by Michaels, Collinsworth and Hines Ward, the former Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver and Super Bowl MVP.

Dan Patrick co-hosts Football Night from NBC’s Studio 8G at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. Patrick is joined by Super Bowl-winning head coach Tony Dungy, two-time Super Bowl winner Rodney Harrison, Peter King of Sports Illustrated, and Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk on NBC Sports Network and NBCSports.com. Carolyn Manno will report on Giants – Ravens, from M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Md.

In addition to the weekly Sunday Night Football and Football Night in America broadcasts, NBC Sports Group’s NFL coverage also includes digital content and social media extensions that are available online, as well as NFL-related shoulder programming available on NBC Sports Network.

Sunday Night Football on NBC, featuring the 49ers 41-34 victory over the Patriots, drew 23.2 million viewers, up 40% from last year’s Week 15 game (Ravens-Chargers, 16.6 million). Additionally, Sunday Night Football was the No. 1 show on Sunday night, and @SNFonNBC remains the No. 1 show of the primetime television season among viewers, households and all key adult and male demographics. Additionally, SNF ranks No. 2 among primetime programs for women 18-34.

• This marks the second consecutive season that Sunday Night Football is the No. 1 show of the primetime television season. Last season marked the first time a sports series was the No.1 show of the primetime television season.

Source: Nielsen Media Research Live + Same Day 9/24-12/16/12

NOTE:The primetime television season began on Monday, Sept. 24 and does not include NBC’s Wednesday night opening game or the first three Sunday Night Football games of the season. Those four games averaged 23.5 million viewers.

49ERS-PATRIOTS: Sunday’s game (8:31 p.m. – 12:01 a.m. ET) on NBC, in which the 49ers defeated the Patriots, 41-34, after leading 31-3 in the third quarter, drew 23.2 million viewers, up 40% from last year’s Week 15 SNF game (16.6 million for Ravens-Chargers). It is the second most-watched Sunday Night Football game on NBC this season, only trailing the SNF opening game (Steelers-Broncos, 27.6 million).

• The household rating of 13.9/22 for Sunday’s game is up 38% from last year’s Week 15 SNF game (10.1/16), and is the third highest-rated SNF game this season.

The 49ers-Patriots Sunday Night Football broadcast on NBC was the most-watched and highest-rated primetime show on Sunday Night.

NOTE: From 8:36-8:56 p.m. ET, NBC News aired President Obama addressing the interfaith service in Newtown, Conn. This 20-minute gap was not included in Nielsen’s final Sunday Night Football rating.

SNF THROUGH 15 WEEKS: Through 15 weeks, Sunday Night Football on NBC is averaging 21.0 million viewers, tied with 2011 as the second most-watched in SNF’s seven-year history on NBC. The 15-week (17-game) household rating of 12.6/20 is just one percent below last year’s 12.7/20.

SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL ON NBC THROUGH 15 WEEKS

According to SocialGuide.com, Sunday Night Football was the No. 1 show on Twitter on Sunday with more than 371 thousand unique users, and more than 1 million tweets. SNF was also the No. 1 Primetime show on Twitter with more than 238 thousand unique users and more than 560 thousand tweets. In addition, Sunday Night Football was No. 1 on Trenderr on Sunday.

SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL EXTRA

SNF EXTRA: For the fifth consecutive season, the entire Sunday Night Football schedule is streamed live on NBCSports.com. The video stream originates directly from NBC’s broadcast of SNF, and will include additional camera angles and interactive features.

Sunday Night Football Extra employs a full HD-quality player, which includes a draggable picture-in-picture feature for any of the online-only cameras, plus full DVR functionality allowing the user to pause, scroll back-and-forth, and review plays in slo-motion.

SNF Extra includes expert analysis, including fantasy tips from Rotoworld fantasy experts as well as in-game chats and analysis from Mike Florio. Additionally SNF Extra employs online-only in-game analysis from the Sunday Night Football and Football Night in America teams.

SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL ALL-ACCESS. ALL SEASON LONG: For the third straight season, NBCSports.com is providing a destination for fans dedicated to behind-the-scenes content of Sunday Night Football. SNF All-Access includes exclusive photos of the Sunday Night Football production, look-ins on SNF production meetings, Michele Tafoya interviews with key NFL players and a weekly notebook and conversations with SNF talent.

“THE SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL”: This season NBC Sports introduced “The Sunday Night Football”, a custom made football from Wilson, which travels with the SNF crew all season long. Fans of SNF on Facebook and Twitter can keep up with “The Sunday Night Football” on the SNF Facebook page, follow its path through each city and recommend where it should visit while in town. At the end of each SNF game, “The Sunday Night Football” is signed by the player(s) of the game. Photos, video and stories around “The Sunday Night Football” and its travels live on Facebook, Twitter and SNFAllAccess.com all season long.

SNF ON FACEBOOK: Facebook.com/SNFonNBC – The Sunday Night Football Facebook page provides links, photos and videos exclusive to behind-the-scenes at SNF every week. The page aggregates all SNF-related content found within the NBC Sports digital network, including NBCSports.com, SNF Extra, ProFootballTalk.com, and Rotoworld.com.

SNF ON TWITTER: twitter.com/SNFonNBC – For the first time ever, Michele Tafoya will be doing live video tweets from @SNFonNBC on the sideline exclusively for the SNF social media platforms, providing fans extended real-time content from Michele’s unique sideline perspective. Using tweets, twitpics and twitvids @SNFonNBC provides unique content with SNF talent, production crew and NFL players.

Each week @SNFonNBC will promote a guest player who will live tweet during the Sunday Night Football broadcast. On Sunday, December 23, former Seahawks Tackle Walter Jones @BigWalt71 will be the guest player.

SNF ON INSTAGRAM: Going into its second season, Sunday Night Football gives the SNF fan a look at photos through the filters of Instagram. Fans get a look inside the production trucks, the locker rooms, on the field and around the city. Fans also have the opportunity to submit photos through Instagram using #SNF that will automatically be curated into a special Instagram tab on the Sunday Night Football Facebook page.

SNF ON GETGLUE: For the second season in a row, fans can check into each SNF game on GetGlue. Fans watching Sunday Night Football at home have the opportunity to win weekly SNF-themed stickers and chances at real-world prizes by checking into SNF on GetGlue every Sunday night.

Mike Florio, who created the innovative, NFL-focused web destination ProFootballTalk.com, hosts the new NBC Sports Network television program Pro Football Talk. The one-hour show airs weeknights at 5 p.m. ET every Monday through Friday. Pro Football Talk is co-hosted by Erik Kuselias.

Pro Football Talk features concentrated NFL insight from Florio and other experts from around the league. Florio and Kuselias will regularly welcome a roster of NBC Sports football commentators, including Rodney Harrison, Hines Ward, Doug Flutie, Ross Tucker, Amani Toomer, and Peter King, among others. In addition to deep diving on the most topical NFL stories of the day, Pro Football Talk will also touch on injuries, fantasy football and officiating.

NBC will broadcast 19 primetime NFL games during the 2012 season, highlighted by storied rivalries such as Steelers-Ravens, Eagles-Cowboys, and Giants-Eagles; two games featuring Peyton Manning with his new team the Denver Broncos – hosting the Pittsburgh Steelers on the first SNF game of the season, and the New Orleans Saints in Week 8; and NBC’s first Thanksgiving night game, featuring New England Patriots at the New York Jets.