NFL shield EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ – JANUARY 08: A detail of the official National Football League NFL logo is seen painted on the turf as the New York Giants host the Atlanta Falcons during their NFC Wild Card Playoff game at MetLife Stadium on January 8, 2012 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Photo by Nick Laham/Getty Images)

Remember that NFL ratings slump in the first half of the 2016 regular season? It’s just a distant memory now. The NFL’s ratings have recovered to the point where they’ve almost reached 2015 levels.

That’s according to Fox Sports Senior Vice President for Programming and Research Mike Mulvihill. His latest tweets tell us that the NFL’s ratings across the board through Sunday’s games of Week 15 have risen in the second half of the season:

And that makes for some major sighs of relief among the NFL’s TV partners and in the league offices:

On Sunday, CBS’ overnight ratings did well enough to make its games in the late Sunday afternoon window (New England at Denver/Oakland at San Diego) the highest rated of the season for the network and the highest of the weekend:

CBS says its early window was up 39% from last year’s Week 15 early action with an 11.0/23 rating/share. Having close games helped in the

As for NBC, airing the Dallas Cowboys for the third straight week paid dividends. Its overnight for Tampa Bay-Dallas on Sunday Night Football rose big time from last year’s Week 15 primetime game:

But while the ratings train for the NFL seems to be back on track, Mulvihill warns that the major of Week 16’s games falling on Saturday, Christmas Eve will actually stall the momentum.

But he does have one caveat as far as viewership is concerned:

So the ratings will most likely be down slightly when all is said and done, but the TV networks will be able to hang their hat on a second half that saw numbers rebound thanks to the resurgence of the Dallas Cowboys and plenty of appearances of America’s Team in primetime.

About Ken Fang

Ken has been covering the sports media in earnest at his own site, Fang's Bites since May 2007 and at Awful Announcing since March 2013.

He provides a unique perspective having been an award-winning radio news reporter in Providence and having worked in local television.

Fang celebrates the four Boston Red Sox World Championships in the 21st Century, but continues to be a long-suffering Cleveland Browns fan.

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