or


[10/06/09 - 02:46 PM]
Monday Night Football - Cable's All-Time Biggest Audience and ESPN's Highest Rating Ever
ESPN spins the numbers for Monday, October 5.

[via press release from ESPN]

Monday Night Football - Cable's All-Time Biggest Audience and ESPN's Highest Rating Ever

15.3 Rating and 21.8 Million Viewers; ESPN Wins Prime Time Among All Networks

ESPN.com NFL Content Yields 110 Million Page Views

Last night, ESPN's Monday Night Football - the Minnesota Vikings' 30-23 home victory over the Green Bay Packers in Brett Favre's first game against his former team - delivered the biggest audience in the history of cable television and the highest rating in ESPN's 30-year history. The game earned a 15.3 rating, representing 15,136,000 homes (21,839,000 P2+), surpassing the previous cable viewership record, ESPN's Philadelphia Eagles-Dallas Cowboys Monday Night Football telecast of September 15, 2008 (12,953,000 homes, based on a 13.3 rating, 18,608,000 P2+).

The game eclipsed ESPN's previous best 14.4 rating (8,400,000 homes) for the Chicago Bears-Minnesota Vikings game on December 6, 1987, ESPN's first season of NFL games. ESPN's 90-minute Monday Night Countdown pre-game (7-8:30 p.m. ET) also recorded its best rating (3.5) and most-viewed show ever (3,476,000 households and 4,540,000 viewers). The previous best was a 3.3 rating (3,075,000 households, 4,056,000 P2+) on September 25, 2006.

The MNF game ranks as the No. 1 prime-time program (for cable or broadcast) among households, viewers and all key male and adult demos of the past two weeks, helping ESPN "win the night" Monday in all demographic audience categories among all networks, broadcast or cable. The game delivered a combined 58.3 rating in Minneapolis (17.5 on ESPN, 40.8 on KTSP-ABC) and a combined 49.7 rating in Milwaukee (13.6 on ESPN, 36.0 on WISN-ABC).

"Last night's record-setting performance clearly demonstrates that big events on ESPN deliver big audiences with content across all our platforms," said ESPN President George Bodenheimer. "In its 40th season, Monday Night Football remains a special place to showcase the NFL's best."

ESPN has now set the cable household viewership record four times in as many years since acquiring the rights to MNF. In all, cable's five biggest household audiences ever -- and eight of the top 10 - (excluding breaking news) are ESPN Monday Night Football games.

For 2009, the five MNF telecasts represent cable's five biggest audiences in terms of both household impressions and total viewers. Through four weeks (five games) of the NFL season, ESPN's MNF is averaging a 11.4 rating and 11,292,000 households (15,684,000 P2+), up 19%, 21% and 24%, respectively from last season.

ESPN.com

ESPN.com had more than 110 million page views to NFL content accessed via computers and mobile devices for Monday through Tuesday at noon -- up 47% from the comparable time period last year. Specifically, page views for the NFL section on computers and mobile were up 44% from last year. Additionally, ESPN.com streamed 3.7 million NFL related videos.

Top 5 Most-Viewed Programs in Cable Television History (Households):

Rank Date Teams Network HHs (000s)

1 10/05/2009 Green Bay Packers-Minnesota Vikings ESPN 15,136

2 09/15/2008 Philadelphia Eagles-Dallas Cowboys ESPN 12,953

3 12/03/2007 New England Patriots-Baltimore Ravens ESPN 12,529

4 10/23/2006 New York Giants-Dallas Cowboys ESPN 11,807

5 09/28/2009 Carolina Panthers-Dallas Cowboys ESPN 11,354

Top 5 Most-Viewed Programs in Cable Television History (Viewers):

Rank Date Teams Network Viewers (000s)

1 10/05/2009 Green Bay Packers-Minnesota Vikings ESPN 21.839

2 09/15/2008 Philadelphia Eagles-Dallas Cowboys ESPN 18,608

3 12/03/2007 New England Patriots-Baltimore Ravens ESPN 17,522

4 08/17/2007 High School Musical 2 Disney Channel 17,241

5 11/09/1993 Larry King - NAFTA Debate CNN 16,837

Note: excluding breaking news; live + same day

Top 3 Ratings in ESPN History:

Rank Date Teams Rating

1 10/05/2009 Green Bay Packers-Minnesota Vikings 15.3

2 12/06/1987 Chicago Bears-Minnesota Vikings 14.4

3 12/25/1994 Detroit Lions-Miami Dolphins 14.2

NEXT WEEK ON MNF

Next week, ESPN's MNF schedule will continue with Mark Sanchez and the New York Jets visiting the Miami Dolphins at 8:30 p.m. The game will be the highlight event of the NFL's celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month. ESPN's game around the game coverage begins at 3:30 p.m. with NFL Live.





  [october 2009]  
S
M
T
W
T
F
S
    


· MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL (ESPN)





most recent ratings | view all posts
[03/15/24 - 09:30 AM]
ABC's "Will Trent" Grows to New Series High in Total Viewers
The series catapulted by +219% among Adults 18-49 (1.15 rating vs. 0.36 rating) after seven days of multiplatform viewing and increased by +4.19 million Total Viewers (9.02 million vs. 4.83 million) over its initial Live+Same Day average.

[03/14/24 - 12:02 PM]
"Tamron Hall" Grows Week to Week by Double Digits in Women 25-54 and 18-49
"Tamron Hall" scored its best performance since May in Women 18-49 and hit an 8-week high in Women 25-54.

[03/14/24 - 11:30 AM]
Season Premiere of ABC's "The Bachelor" Marks Series' Strongest Multiplatform Telecast in Nearly 3 Years
The season premiere shot up more than 5 times over its initial Live+Same Day rating among Adults 18-49, skyrocketing by +432% after 35 days of multiplatform viewing to score its biggest delayed-viewing increase ever.

[03/12/24 - 03:36 PM]
ESPN Platforms Wrap Up Successful Women's College Basketball Regular Season Slate
The 2023-24 regular season averaged 476,000 viewers across games on ESPN and ABC.

[03/12/24 - 09:56 AM]
Netflix Top 10 Week of Mar. 4: "Damsel" and "The Gentlemen" Take the Top Spots
"Avatar: The Last Airbender," which was recently renewed for two more seasons, held strong in second place with 9.1M views as the social fandom continues to heat up.

[03/11/24 - 04:30 PM]
Earlier Start Time Propels "The Oscars" on ABC to Hit 4-Year High in Viewers
Starting one hour earlier than usual, the 96th Oscars on ABC drew an average audience of 19.5 million Total Viewers and scored a 3.81 rating among Adults 18-49 based on Fast National Live+Same Day program data.

[03/11/24 - 11:52 AM]
"Rock the Block" Season Premiere Delivers Triple-Digit Ratings Gains for HGTV on Monday, March 4
The episode, which attracted 3.9 million total viewers, posted an impressive 104 percent lift from the prior six-week average and a 66 percent increase over year-ago levels.

[03/08/24 - 01:32 PM]
ABC News' Special Coverage of the 2024 State of the Union Address and Super Tuesday Wins in Total Viewers Among All Broadcast Television
ABC News' coverage of the State of the Union address was up +14% from the prior year in Total Viewers.

[03/07/24 - 08:00 AM]
"BMF" Season Three Premiere Delivers 5.1 Million Multiplatform Viewers for Starz
The third season, which premiered on Friday, March 1, achieved a series high growing season over season by 25%.

[03/06/24 - 02:30 PM]
"Tamron Hall" Hits 4-Week High in Households and Total Viewers
During the week of February 19, "Tamron Hall" improved week to week in Households (+6% - 0.68 vs. 0.64), Total Viewers (+9% - 1.008 million vs. 928,000) and Women 25-54 (+1% - 141,000 vs. 139,000).

[03/06/24 - 09:00 AM]
FX's "Shogun" Premiere Breaks Records with 9 Million Views Globally on Hulu and Disney+
Domestically, "Shogun" is the No. 1 FX premiere on Hulu, just ahead of "The Bear" Season 2, aided by viewership from Hulu on Disney+.

[03/05/24 - 04:30 PM]
ABC's "Abbott Elementary" Catapults More Than 5 Times Over Live+Same Day Among Adults 18-49
"Abbott Elementary" also picked up an additional +3.13 million Total Viewers after three days of cross-platform viewing (5.46 million vs. 2.33 million).

[03/05/24 - 03:31 PM]
ABC's "The Bachelor" Hits Its Strongest Multiplatform Telecast in Nearly 2 Years
"The Bachelor" tripled its initial Live+Same Day rating among Adults 18-49, skyrocketing by +197% after just three days of multiplatform viewing (0.62 rating to 1.84 rating).

[03/05/24 - 09:14 AM]
Netflix Top 10 Week of Feb. 26: "Avatar: The Last Airbender" Holds Onto #1; "Code 8: Part II" Debuts on Top
Cupid kept his hold on the English TV List, with Season 6 of fan-favorite dating experiment "Love Is Blind" claiming #2 (5.1M views) and "One Day," the limited series adapted from David Nicholls' beloved romance novel, taking #3 (4.8M views).

[03/05/24 - 09:09 AM]
CBS Wins Monday Night For Fourth Consecutive Week with #1 Show of the Night, "NCIS"
"NCIS" averaged 6.81 million viewers, retaining nearly 100% of its week ago average.