With Peyton Manning still on the sidelines, Monday’s Colts/Buccaneers game was a dud in the overnights for ESPN.
The Week 4 edition of Monday Night Football earned an 8.0 overnight rating on ESPN, down 22% from last year (NE/MIA: 10.3), and down 44% from the 2009 game (GB/MIN: 14.2), in which Brett Favre faced his former team for the first time.
The 8.0 is the lowest overnight for Monday Night Football since Week 6 last year (TEN/JAX: 7.2).
So far this season, four of the five MNF telecasts on ESPN have had declines in overnight ratings compared to last year.
Despite the drop, Monday’s game easily topped Game 3 of the Yankees/Tigers MLB Division Series on TBS (4.8).
Locally, the Colts’ loss earned a combined 35.5 in Indianapolis (24.3 on ESPN, 11.2 on local affiliate) and 21.5 in Tampa-St. Petersburg (11.0 on ESPN, 10.5 on local affiliate).
(This week’s numbers from Sports Business Daily)
