Much like the Browns themselves, America was not ready for some football on Monday night.
Monday’s Ravens/Browns clunker drew a 6.5/11 U.S. rating and 10.2 million viewers on ESPN, down 15% and 14%, respectively, from a 7.6 and 11.9 million for 49ers/Cardinals in Week 10 last year, and the lowest rated, least-viewed Monday Night Football game of the season.
Ravens/Browns stands as the second-least viewed NFL telecast of the season, ahead of only Bears/49ers on NFL Network last Thursday. Additionally, the 6.5 rating is the third-lowest of the season, ahead of only the aforementioned Bears/49ers game and a Week 7 telecast on CBS.
This marks only the second time this season that Monday Night Football has had a decline in ratings or viewership. The previous occurrence came in Week 2, when Colts/Dolphins was off double-digits versus the comparable Eagles/Cowboys game in ’08 — which was, at the time, the most-viewed program in cable history.
Despite the season-low, Ravens/Browns finished well above the Monday Night Football record low of 5.1, set by a Christmas Eve Broncos/Chargers game in ’07.
Additionally, while Ravens/Browns may be low by NFL standards, the game drew more viewers than any non-NFL sporting event on cable this year, with the exception of USC/Ohio State in September (10.6 mil).
Source: pifeedback.com
