With Monday Night Football splitting its audience across two games, neither was an impressive draw individually.
Vikings-Eagles averaged 12.86 million viewers on ABC and Titans-Bills 7.92 million on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes in a split Week 2 Monday Night Football doubleheader, with the two games combining to average 20.6 million in the two hours in which they overlapped. In Week 2 of last season, a solo Lions-Packers game averaged in the neighborhood of 14 million on ESPN and ESPN2. Household ratings were a 7.0 for Vikings-Eagles and a 4.25 for Titans-Bills.
While the combined audience was strong — peaking at 22.2 million viewers from 9:15-9:30 PM ET — each game suffered individually. Titans-Bills averaged the smallest audience in Monday Night Football history, falling below the previous mark of 8.05 million for Falcons-Saints opposite a presidential debate in 2016.
Vikings-Eagles was not historically low but still averaged fewer viewers than all-but-one primetime game on broadcast television last year. [For more Week 2 NFL ratings, see this article.]
The split doubleheader will become a regular occurrence once the NFL’s new media rights deals officially kick in next season. ESPN and ABC are set to carry three such doubleheaders per season.
The last time overlapping Monday night games aired on national television was Week 1 of the 2005 season, when the Saints’ Sunday afternoon home opener against the Giants was relocated to Monday night in New York due to Hurricane Katrina. Giants-Saints aired at 7:30 PM ET on ESPN, with ABC simulcasting the first half until its regularly scheduled Washington-Dallas game began at 9:00.
(For what it’s worth, the Washington-Dallas game had a 10.8 rating and 16.11 million viewers on ABC, while the Giants-Saints game drew a 5.4 and 7.94 million across both networks.)
(Nielsen estimates from ESPN PR, ShowBuzz Daily 9.20, Programming Insider 9.20)
