MNF on ESPN: Season-to-Date Viewership Up Four Percent
Last night’s Monday Night Football game – a Detroit Lions’ 30-17 victory over the Green Bay Packers – averaged 11.2 million viewers across ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes, according to Nielsen, helping ESPN win the night among households, viewers, and all key male and adult demos (18-34, 18-49 and 25-54). It was the sixth Monday this season that MNF helped ESPN win the night in all categories.

• On ESPN, Lions-Packers averaged a 6.8 US household rating and 11.1 million viewers. The telecast peaked from 9:15-9:30 p.m. ET with an 8.0 US household rating and 13.2 million viewers.
• On ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes, Lions-Packers averaged an additional 102,000 viewers – 57,000 on ESPN Deportes and 45,000 on ESPN2.

Note: The MNF audience is likely to grow by eight percent once all streaming and out-of-home audiences are included, based on ESPN’s new Nielsen Total Audience measurement.

Season-to-date: Through nine weeks (10 games), ESPN’s MNF is averaging 11.1 million viewers, a four percent increase through week 9 a year ago (10.7 million). Additionally, during the MNF game window, ESPN digital content reaches 1.3 million devices in the average minute, a 25 percent increase year-over-year.

Local markets: In Detroit, the game delivered a 9.3 rating on ESPN and a 15.7 on WXYZ-ABC, for a combined 25.0 rating in the market. In Milwaukee, the game delivered a 10.8 rating on ESPN and a 26.8 on WISN-ABC, for a combined 37.6 rating.

The top metered markets (not including those of the competing teams): Minneapolis-St. Paul (13.6), New Orleans (11.9), San Diego (10.2), Philadelphia (9.9), Richmond (9.8), Seattle-Tacoma (9.7), Washington, D.C. (9.7), Denver (9.5), Buffalo (9.4) and Chicago (9.2).

Next week: ESPN’s Monday Night Football returns Nov. 13 at 8:15 p.m. ET with Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers hosting Jay Cutler and the Miami Dolphins.

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