Completing a rough Week 1, ESPN’s Monday Night Football opened with multi-year lows.
Saints-Vikings had a 6.8 rating and 11.4 million viewers on the season premiere of ESPN’s Monday Night Football, down 12% in ratings and viewership from Pittsburgh-Washington last year (7.7, 13.0M) and down 16% and 21% respectively from Eagles-Falcons in 2015 (8.5, 13.6M).
Later in the night, Chargers-Broncos earned a 6.0 and 9.9 million — down 3% in both measures from Rams-49ers last year (6.2, 10.3M) and down 31% and 34% respectively from Vikings-49ers in 2015 (8.8, 14.3M).
The Vikings’ win was the lowest rated MNF opener ever and the least-watched since Bengals-Ravens in 2012 (10.9M). The Broncos’ win was the lowest rated Week 1 MNF game overall since 49ers-Cardinals in 2007 (5.8) and the least-watched since Broncos-Raiders in 2007 (9.7M).
In adults 18-49, ratings fell 13% for the early game (4.8 to 4.2) and 7% for the late window (4.2 to 3.9).
Locally, ESPN’s coverage of Saints-Vikings had a 10.8 rating in New Orleans and a 10.4 in Minneapolis-St. Paul. The game was simulcast on local broadcast affiliates in both markets, scoring a 29.3 on New Orleans NBC affiliate WDSU and a 26.7 on Minneapolis CBS affiliate WCCO. The local simulcasts are not factored into ESPN’s national numbers.
For Chargers-Broncos, ESPN pulled a 17.3 in Denver and a 7.0 in Los Angeles, with local simulcasts earning a 22.6 on independent Denver affiliate KTVD and a 4.8 on L.A. ABC affiliate KABC. In San Diego, where the Chargers played for 55 years until moving to L.A. in the offseason, the game had a 17.7 rating — exceeding Los Angeles’ combined rating of 11.8. Keep in mind that as Los Angeles is a much bigger market, more households were tuned to the game there than in San Diego.
Buffalo was the top neutral market for Saints-Vikings (11.8) and Albuquerque was the top neutral market for Chargers-Broncos (10.7). Several markets did not report ratings due to the effects of Hurricane Irma, including Atlanta, Tampa-St. Petersburg, Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando, Jacksonville and West Palm Beach. While the hurricane had already died down by Monday, ESPN said that the cable news and weather channels posted a 97% increase opposite MNF over the comparable night last year.
Monday’s doubleheader capped off a rough opening weekend for the NFL, which saw multi-year lows for six of seven windows. The NFL Kickoff Game was the lowest rated since 2008 and least-watched since 2009. The FOX late window was the lowest rated since 2003 and least-watched since 2008. The FOX early window was the lowest rated and least-watched since 2008. The CBS singleheader was the lowest rated and least-watched since 2009.
[Mon. numbers from ESPN]
