A high-profile, big-market NFC East rivalry game earned strong numbers for ESPN Monday night.
Monday’s Giants/Cowboys game drew a 12.3 overnight rating on ESPN, up 34% from Week 7 last year (PHI/WSH: 9.2), and up 62% from Week 7 in 2008 (DEN/NE: 7.6).
The 12.3 overnight is the highest of the season for Monday Night Football, topping the previous high set by Vikings/Jets two weeks earlier (12.2).
MNF drew the third-highest overnight of Week 5 (five telecasts), behind the NFL national window on CBS (NE/SD*: 15.1) and Sunday Night Football on NBC (MIN/GB: 16.0).
The ESPN telecast drew a 12.6 rating in New York and a 17.1 in Dallas-Ft. Worth. The game was simulcast on local broadcast affiliates in both markets, earning a 3.8 on New York MyNetworkTV affiliate WWOR and a 14.1 on Dallas indepedent affiliate KTXA.
The combined 31.2 rating in the Dallas-Ft. Worth market tops every game of the recent Rangers/Yankees ALCS on TBS.
Keep in mind that WWOR has been blacked out on Cablevision systems in the New York area, thanks to a dispute between the cable operator and WWOR parent company News Corporation.
(Rating from Sports Business Daily)
