or


[12/15/20 - 03:07 PM]
ESPN's "Monday Night Football" Delivers More Than 12.4 Million Viewers, Driving 9% Year-Over-Year Audience Growth
ESPN spins the numbers for Monday, December 14.

[via press release from ESPN]

ESPN's Monday Night Football Delivers More than 12.4 Million Viewers, Driving 9% Year-Over-Year Audience Growth

· MNF Up Year-Over-Year for Fourth Consecutive Week

· Most-Watched Browns MNF Game in ESPN Era

· Audience Grew Through Dramatic Fourth Quarter

ESPN's Monday Night Football delivered an audience of 12,422, 000 driving the franchise to significant year-over-year growth as fans were captivated by the Baltimore Ravens and Cleveland Browns (8 p.m. ET) high scoring, back-and-forth fourth quarter drama. The viewership was up 9% from last year's MNF Week 14 game (New York Giants-Philadelphia), the fourth consecutive week MNF has delivered year-over-year growth.

Cleveland Rocks!

The audience of more than 12.4 million viewers is the largest for a Cleveland Browns Monday Night Football appearance in the ESPN era (eight games since 2006), topping the previous high of 12.2 million for New York Jets-Browns game last season (Sept.16, 2019). Locally, Cleveland delivered a 39.3 market rating across ESPN and affiliate WKYC, the market's second best for a MNF game in the same era. The aforementioned Jets game delivered a 40.4 in the market.

Most-Watched Program, Network on Monday Night

Monday Night Football was Monday's most-watched program on television (broadcast and cable) and also drove ESPN to be the most-watched network in primetime (8-11p.m.) among all key demos M18-34, M18-49, M25-54, P18-34, P18-49, P25-54, and P55.

Additional Highlights

· ESPN's audience continued to grow through the fourth quarter, as the Browns and Ravens traded leads. Nearly 13 million people were watching when reigning MVP Lamar Jackson threw a 44-yard touchdown strike on 4th and 5, and the audience jumped to over 13.4 million for the Browns' go-ahead score and Justin Tucker's ensuing game-winning kick. A breakdown of the final three quarter hours:

Time (ET) Audience

11-11:15 p.m. 12,765,000

11:15-11:30 p.m. 12,912,000

11:30-11:45 p.m. 13,430,000

· The state of Ohio made up three of the five highest-rated local markets, with Columbus ranking third and Cincinnati registering in fifth, joining Cleveland. Pittsburgh was also in the top five, with AFC-leading Kansas City coming in sixth, as fans from the top contenders in the AFC watched intently. The top 10 available markets:

Rank Market Local Rating
1 Cleveland 39.3*
2 Baltimore 29.6*
3 Columbus 16.3
4 Pittsburgh 13.2
5 Cincinnati 11.7
6 Kansas City 11.4
7 San Diego 10.9
8 Nashville 10.8
9 Seattle 10.6
Washington, D.C. 10.6
*Includes ESPN and OTA affiliate

Pittsburgh-Cincinnati Monday Night Football Matchup Features Postseason Implications

ESPN's Monday Night Football continues with Pittsburgh at Cincinnati (Dec. 21), as the Steelers remain in contention for the top seed in the AFC Playoffs. With a win against the Bengals, Pittsburgh will clinch the AFC North. Steve Levy, Brian Griese, Louis Riddick, Lisa Salters and John Parry have the call.

-30-





  [december 2020]  
S
M
T
W
T
F
S
  


· MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL (ESPN)





most recent ratings | view all posts
[10/03/25 - 02:17 PM]
ESPN's Record-Setting '25 MLB Wild Card Series
Across eight games, the MLB Wild Card Series is averaging 4.4 million viewers, up 65% from last year.

[10/03/25 - 12:07 PM]
"Dancing with the Stars" Continues to Shatter Records - Growing Two Weeks in a Row Since Season Premiere for First Time Since 2005
Plus: "High Potential" hit a season high in Total Viewers (4.24 million), growing by double digits over the show's comparable third episode from last fall.

[10/02/25 - 04:09 PM]
ESPN Delivers the Most-Watched WNBA Semifinals Ever
Game 5 between the Indiana Fever and the Las Vegas Aces averaged 1.8 million viewers, peaking at 2.1 million.

[10/02/25 - 02:51 PM]
ESPN's Record-Setting Day One of MLB Wild Card Series
Coverage of Red Sox versus Yankees averaged 6.5 million viewers, peaking at 9.9 million.

[10/02/25 - 11:00 AM]
"Survivor" and "The Amazing Race" Season Premieres Hit Their Largest 3-Day Streaming Viewerships Ever
The "Survivor" season 49 premiere grew to 6.83 million viewers with three days of multiplatform viewership; while "The Amazing Race" season 38 premiere grew to 4.01 million viewers.

[10/02/25 - 09:38 AM]
"Celebrity Wheel of Fortune" Scores on Friday Nights with Biggest Total Viewer Audience in Nearly Two Years
"Celebrity Wheel of Fortune" stood as the No. 1 program of the night, rising by double digits in Total Viewers over its previous season premiere.

[10/01/25 - 10:27 AM]
"Big Brother" Season Finale Is Most-Watched Episode in Over Three Years
The finale was up +33% from its year ago finale and up +33% from this season's average.

[09/30/25 - 03:44 PM]
ESPN and ABC Win College Football's Week 5; "College GameDay's" Most-Viewed Season Rolls On
ABC is off to its best start ever with 7.1 million average viewers per game, and the network has aired eight of the top 10 most-viewed games this season.

[09/30/25 - 02:08 PM]
Packers-Cowboys OT Thriller Averages 26.9 Million Viewers on NBC & Peacock, As NBC Sports Opens with Best Four-Week Audience Average in 20 Seasons of NBC "SNF"
The audience peaked at 29.9 million viewers in the second quarter (9-9:15 p.m. ET).

[09/30/25 - 12:01 PM]
Netflix Top 10 Week of September 22: "Wayward" Lures Viewers at No. 1, "KPop Demon Hunters" Sets Top 10 Record
New on Netflix this week is "House of Guinness," a historical drama series created by Steven Knight, which debuted at No. 3 on the English TV list with 5.2 million views.

[09/30/25 - 10:24 AM]
"High Potential" Season Premiere Vaults to Nearly 16 Million in First Week Across Platforms
This marks ABC's best season premiere for a drama among Total Viewers in five years.

[09/29/25 - 06:06 AM]
ESPN's 2025 MLB Game Viewership Up 21 Percent from Last Year
Coverage delivered 1.8 million viewers on average across 30 games this season.

[09/26/25 - 01:11 PM]
"Dancing with the Stars" Week Two Delivers Over 5 Million Total Viewers Rising Over Season Premiere for First Time in 14 Years
Once again, the show led its time period and stood as the No. 1 show of the night in Total Viewers (5.46 million) and Adults 18-49 (1.02 rating).

[09/25/25 - 02:05 PM]
Viewers Have Watched More Than 8 Billion Minutes of "Big Brother" This Summer - Up +27% from Last Year
Multiplatform average episode viewership grew to 5.1 million, up +23% versus last year in 35-days of viewing, outpacing the competition.

[09/24/25 - 02:47 PM]
"Jimmy Kimmel Live" Returned on Tuesday to 6.26 Million Total Viewers on Broadcast, According to Initial Live+Same Day Measurement
In addition to linear ratings, the monologue has garnered more than 26 million views across YouTube and social platforms.