Posted: Monday January 2, 2012 2:21PM ; Updated: Monday January 2, 2012 2:21PM

Cowboys-Giants has best rating in NBC Sunday night history

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Cowboys-Giants got the highest overnight ratings in NBC Sunday night history

The game's ratings were 36 percent higher than last year's Week 17 game

The old record was set by the Cowboys-Jets game in Week 1 this season

An NBC Sunday-night record number of people tuned in to watch Eli Manning and the Giants win the NFC East.

Reuters

NEW YORK (AP) -- The New York Giants' victory over the Dallas Cowboys earned the highest overnight rating in the six-year history of Sunday night football on NBC.

According to data released Monday by The Nielsen Company, the Giants' 31-14 win to take the NFC East got a 17.1 overnight rating and a 27 share, 36 percent higher than last year's Week 17 game between the Rams and Seahawks to decide the NFC West.

The previous high Sunday night overnight high was for Cowboys-Jets in Week 1, 16.9/27.

Overnight ratings measure the 55 largest TV markets, covering nearly 70 percent of the country. Each overnight rating point represents about 735,000 TV homes. The rating is the percentage of all homes with TVs, whether or not they are in use. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show.