National Football League

'Sunday Night Football' on NBC earns best ratings

Published Oct. 22, 2013 4:59 p.m. ET

foxsports

Boosted by a big audience for Peyton Manning's return to Indianapolis, ''Sunday Night Football'' is so far receiving its best ratings on NBC.

The games are averaging a 13.4 rating through seven weeks. The network said Tuesday that was the highest to this point of the season since it started airing the Sunday night package in 2006.

The Colts' 39-33 victory Sunday over Manning's Broncos averaged 26.9 million viewers, up 54 percent from the Steelers-Bengals game the same week last year.

Ratings represent the percentage of homes with televisions tuned to a program.