For the second time this season, Monday Night Football ratings entered record-low territory.
Dolphins-Panthers scored a 5.4 rating and 8.8 million viewers on the latest edition of ESPN’s Monday Night Football, down 19% in ratings and 18% in viewership from Bengals-Giants last year (6.7, 10.7M) and down 30% and 28% respectively from Texans-Bengals in 2015 (7.7, 12.2M).
ESPN’s Nielsen ratings now include streaming viewership on television. The above comparisons are to TV-only figures.
Carolina’s blowout win posted the second-worst rating and viewership on MNF this season. Colts-Titans had a 5.2 and 8.4 million in Week 6.
Overall, it was the sixth-lowest rated and eighth-least watched MNF game all-time. Six of the seven lowest Monday Night Football ratings — and five of the eight smallest audiences — have come in the past two seasons alone.
MNF scored a 3.0 rating in adults 18-49, down 17% from last year (3.6) and down 29% from 2015 (4.2). Ratings also fell 18% in adults 18-34 (from 3.05 to 2.50) and 17% in adults 25-54 (from 4.1 to 3.6).
ESPN’s telecast earned a 9.0 rating in Charlotte and a mere 4.7 in Miami-Ft. Lauderdale. Simulcast coverage on ABC affiliates delivered a 14.3 on Charlotte’s WSOC and a 7.4 on Miami’s WPGL. The simulcast figures do not factor into ESPN’s national numbers.
New Orleans was the top neutral market with a 10.6.
Lowest Monday Night Football Ratings, Viewership
| This year’s games highlighted | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lowest Rated | Least-Watched | ||||||
| # | Year | Game | Rtg. | # | Year | Game | Vwrs. |
| 1 | 2016 | ATL-NO | 4.9 | 1 | 2016 | ATL-NO | 8.05M |
| 2 | 2016 | IND-NYJ | 5.0 | 2 | 2016 | IND-NYJ | 8.09M |
| 3 | 2007 | DEN-SD | 5.1 | 3 | 2017 | IND-TEN | 8.38M |
| T4 | 2017 | IND-TEN | 5.2 | 4 | 2016 | NYJ-AZ | 8.40M |
| T4 | 2016 | NYJ-AZ | 5.2 | 5 | 2007 | NO-ATL | 8.45M |
| 6 | 2017 | MIA-CAR | 5.4 | 6 | 2007 | NYG-ATL | 8.48M |
| 7 | 2016 | TB-CAR | 5.6 | 7 | 2007 | AZ-SF | 8.50M |
| T8 | 2007 | NO-ATL | 5.7 | 8 | 2017 | MIA-CAR | 8.76M |
| T8 | 2007 | NYG-ATL | 5.7 | 9 | 2007 | DEN-SD | 8.77M |
| 10 | 2007 | SEA-SF | 5.8 | 10 | 2008 | JAX-HOU | 8.90M |
[Mon. numbers via Programming Insider 11.14, Sports Business Daily 11.14]
