Thanks to a near-record low performance last year, Monday Night Football ratings jumped by more than a third in Week 13.
Steelers-Bengals drew a 6.7 rating and 10.8 million viewers on ESPN’s Monday Night Football this week, up 34% in ratings and 30% in viewership from Colts-Jets last year (5.0, 8.3M). ESPN Nielsen ratings now include streaming viewership on television; comparisons are to last year’s TV+streaming numbers.
The Steelers’ physical win, which peaked at a 7.5 rating and 12.1 million viewers from 9:45-10 PM ET, was the first MNF game to post an increase since Week 7. Keep in mind that last year’s game set a historically low bar, posting the second-lowest rating and viewership in MNF history.
Dating back to last season, 22 of the past 31 Monday Night Football games have failed to crack a 7.0 rating. That exceeds the previous eight seasons — from 2008-15 — combined (17).
ESPN’s telecast earned an 11.4 rating in Pittsburgh and an 11.1 in Cincinnati. Over-the-air simulcasts posted a 27.4 on Pittsburgh ABC affiliate WTAE and a 21.7 on Cincinnati NBC affiliate WLWT. The simulcasts are not factored into ESPN’s numbers.
Outside of the participating markets, Dayton, Ohio, led the way with a 16.5 rating. Baltimore (12.3), Norfolk, Va. (12.1) and New Orleans (12.0) followed.
The full list of 2017 NFL ratings is available here.
[Mon. numbers from ESPN]
