"MNF's" Bears-Packers Telecast Helps ESPN Win the Night among All Networks

Last night's Monday Night Football telecast - a Chicago Bears' 27-20 road victory over the NFC North rival Green Bay Packers - helped ESPN win the night among all networks - broadcast or cable - among viewers, households and all key male and adult demos. The MNF game also ranked as the top telecast of the night across cable and broadcast in those same categories.

The Bears-Packers telecast earned a 10.1 US rating, representing an average of 11,639,000 households and 16,102,000 viewers (P2+), according to Nielsen. The 10.1 rating ties the Eagles-Redskins season-opener (Sept. 9) as ESPN's highest-rated MNF telecast of the 2013 season. Coverage peaked from 9:45-10 p.m. ET with an 11.1 US rating.

In Chicago, the game delivered a 20.3 rating on ESPN and a 13.7 on WCIU-IND, for a combined 34.0 rating in the market. In Milwaukee, the game delivered a 13.9 rating on ESPN and a 36.4 on WISN-ABC, for a combined 50.3 rating in the market.

The top 10 metered markets (in addition to the markets of the competing teams) were New Orleans (18.2), Las Vegas (17.3), San Diego (14.9), Minneapolis-St. Paul (14.5), Indianapolis (14.4), Sacramento (13.9), Phoenix (13.8), Tampa-St. Pete (13.8), Denver (13.5) and Seattle-Tacoma (13.1).

Through nine weeks (10 games), ESPN's MNF is averaging an 8.5 US rating, 9,787,000 households and 13,362,000 viewers in 2013, slight increases in all categories over the same period in 2012.

NFL on ESPN Digital Platforms

ESPN Digital Media's NFL content across all platforms - ESPN.com, mobile Web, apps and WatchESPN - through 10 Monday Night Football games over nine days so far this season continue to log significant growth, generating an average minute audience of 558,000 during telecasts, an increase of 20 percent compared to the same time period last season. Specifically, last night's Bears-Packers game was the second-best NFL game ever on WatchESPN, logging 13.9 million live minutes, 187,000 unique viewers, and an average minute audience of 72,000, up 168 percent, 122 percent and 164 percent, respectively, compared to a year ago. Season to date, MNF on WatchESPN is averaging 179,000 unique viewers (up 100 percent), 12.7 million live minutes (up 139 percent) and an average minute audience of 64,000 (up 138 percent) per game.

Additionally, season to date on Sundays, ESPN Digital Media's average minute audience across all platforms is 572,000 fans, up 13 percent compared to the same time period the previous year. Other highlights:

· Mobile apps logged the largest growth on Sunday, with the ScoreCenter app generating an average minute audience of 138,000 (up 63 percent) and 7.4 million unique visitors (up 2 percent) while the ESPN Fantasy Football app logged an average minute audience of 182,000 (up 94 percent) and 4.1 million unique visitors (up 53 percent).

This Week on MNF

ESPN's MNF returns on November 11 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers hosting Ryan Tannehill and the Miami Dolphins at 8:30 p.m. ET. The Dolphins are making their league-leading 80th appearance all-time on MNF; the franchise is also tied (with Pittsburgh) for third all-time with 40 wins on Monday nights (best: 43, Dallas and San Francisco). With the upcoming MNF game to be played on Veterans Day, ESPN's promotional spot leading up to Dolphins-Bucs is themed to this day of remembrance and voiced by legendary actor Gene Hackman. Video.