Off-air controversy was not able to save Monday Night Football from hitting a season-low in the ratings last week.
The Week 4 Monday Night Football game, pitting the Colts against the Buccaneers, earned a 7.0 U.S. rating and 10.837 million viewers on ESPN last week — down 22% in ratings and viewership from last year (NE/MIA: 9.0, 13.971M), and down 47% and 50%, respectively, from 2009 (GB/MIN: 13.2, 21.839M).
The Colts played last week’s game without star QB Peyton Manning. That said, Manning’s absence did not hurt the ratings for NBC’s Sunday Night Football the previous week.
Monday’s game ranks as the lowest rated (tie), least-viewed NFL telecast on ESPN since Week 6 last year (TEN/JAX: 6.2, 9.666M).
So far this season, ratings and viewership have dropped for every Monday Night Football game on ESPN (five telecasts).
Despite the lower numbers, Colts/Buccaneers not surprisingly finished ahead of Monday night’s Major League Baseball playoff game on TBS (NYY/DET G3: 3.9, 6.046M).
(This week’s numbers from The Voice of TV)
