Airing Cowboys-Giants for the first time in nine years, ESPN’s Monday Night Football scored its highest ratings of the season in Week 9.
Cowboys-Giants averaged an 8.3 and 13.98 million viewers on ESPN’s Monday Night Football last night, marking the network’s highest rated and most-watched game of the season (10 telecasts). The previous highs were a 7.9 and 13.34 million for Lions-Packers in Week 6.
The Cowboys’ win, which peaked with 15.67 million viewers from 9:15-9:30 PM ET, ranks as the highest rated and most-watched Week 9 MNF game in six years — since Bears-Packers in 2013 (10.1, 16.10M). It was also the top Cowboys game on ESPN since 2016 (Cowboys-Lions: 10.1, 18.61M).
Ratings increased 15% and viewership 19% from Week 9 last year (Titans-Cowboys: 7.2, 11.79M) and 23% and 25% respectively from 2017 (Lions-Packers: 6.8, 11.15M).
Though strong for MNF, ratings and viewership were the lowest for the Cowboys-Giants rivalry since New Year’s Day 2005, when their Week 17 matchup averaged a 5.9 and 8.64 million on ESPN’s Sunday Night Football.
The last time ESPN aired a Cowboys-Giants game, 2010, it had an 11.2 and 17.95 million.
Monday’s game had an additional Spanish-language audience of 165,000 on ESPN Deportes, trailing only Cowboys-Bears in 2013 (174K) as the network’s most-watched MNF game on record. Across ESPN and ESPN Deportes, the game averaged 14.14 million (+16%).
MNF is now averaging 11.99 million viewers for the season (+5%).
ESPN’s telecast averaged an 11.0 rating in Dallas-Ft. Worth and an 8.5 in New York City. Coverage was simulcast on local affiliates in both markets, averaging a 21.1 on Dallas ABC affiliate WFAA and a 4.9 on Channel 11 in New York. The local simulcast figures are not included in ESPN’s national results.
San Antonio led all markets on ESPN with a 15.9 rating, followed by Austin, Tex. (15.0), Norfolk, VA. (12.2), San Diego (12.0) and Las Vegas (11.4).
Cowboys-Giants averaged a 4.5 rating in adults 18-49 (+15%), ESPN’s highest in Week 9 since 2013 (6.1). It also drew a 3.6 in adults 18-34 (+13%), tied as the network’s highest in Week 9 since 2014 (3.8).
[Nielsen estimates from ESPN PR, ShowBuzz Daily 11.5]
