ESPN and "Monday Night Football" Win the Night

Texans-Patriots Delivers 10.4 Rating and 14,483,000 Million Viewers

Last night's ESPN Monday Night Football game - a New England Patriots' 42-14 win over the Houston Texans - won the night among all television programs on broadcast or cable in households, viewers and all key male and adult demos. Similarly, ESPN led all television networks in those same categories.

The telecast delivered a 10.4 household coverage rating (9.0 US), representing an average of 10,242,000 households (14,483,000 million viewers - P2+), according to Nielsen, making it the eighth most-viewed program among viewers (ninth among households) on cable television this year. The game peaked between 9:15-9:30 p.m. ET and 9:45-10 p.m. at a 12.3 coverage rating.

In Houston, the game delivered a 12.9 rating on ESPN and a 21.7 rating on KHOU-CBS, for a combined 34.6 rating in the market. In Boston, the game delivered a 13.5 rating on ESPN and a 25.6 rating on WCVB-ABC, for a combined 39.1 rating in the market. The top-10 metered markets (not including primary home team markets) include Providence (29.6), Las Vegas (14.6), Denver (14.6), New Orleans (14.5), San Diego (14.1), Hartford-New Haven (13.7), Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News (13.0), Indianapolis (12.9), Sacramento (12.3) and Baltimore (12.2)

Through the first 14 weeks of the NFL season (15 games), MNF is averaging a 9.8 household coverage rating (8.4 US), 9,603,000 households and 13,203,000 viewers, up slightly from the same point last season.

ESPN Digital Platforms

ESPN also saw significant traffic across its digital platforms on Sunday and Monday:

· ESPN.com NFL section - An average minute audience of 34,000, up 19 percent from last year, reaching 4.1 million unique visitors

· ESPN.com Fantasy Football section - An average minute audience of 47,000, a 39 percent gain from last year, reaching 2.4 million unique visitors

· ESPN mobile Web NFL section - An average minute audience of 48,000, a 64 percent increase, reaching 3.8 million unique visitors.

Next Week on MNF: New York Jets vs. Tennessee Titans

ESPN's MNF returns this week as Jake Locker and the Tennessee Titans host Mark Sanchez and the New York Jets in a matchup of AFC teams in Nashville on December 17 at 8:30 p.m.