A matchup of sub-.500 teams sent Monday Night Football ratings to a Week 7 low.
Giants-Falcons scored a 6.4 rating and 10.3 million viewers on the Week 7 edition of ESPN’s Monday Night Football, down 7% in ratings and 9% in viewership from last year (Washington-Philadelphia: 6.9, 11.4M) and down 4% and 8% respectively from 2016 (Texans-Broncos: 6.7, 11.2M).
The Falcons’ win, which peaked at a 7.3 and 11.8 million from 10-10:15 PM ET, was the lowest rated and least-watched Week 7 MNF game since 2011 (Ravens-Jaguars: 6.1, 9.28M).
It also ranks as the second-least watched MNF game this season (eight telecasts), ahead of Rams-Raiders in Week 1 (9.61M).
Including the Spanish-language audience on ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes, the game had 10.4 million viewers.
MNF scored a 3.5 rating in adults 18-49, down 10% from last year (3.9) and down 5% from 2016 (3.7). The 3.5 is ESPN’s lowest in Week 7 of the season since a special Thursday night game in 2001* (2.2). Ratings were also the lowest since 2001 in adults 18-34 (2.8, -18%) and adults 25-54 (4.1, -7%).
Even with this week’s poor performance, Monday Night Football continues to trend above last year. The series is averaging 11.4 million viewers through Week 7, up 2% from the same point last year (11.2M).
ESPN’s telecast earned an 8.5 rating in Atlanta and a 7.3 in New York City. Local over-the-air simulcasts had a 15.2 on Atlanta ABC affiliate WSB and a 12.5 on independent New York affiliate WWOR (5.2). Simulcast figures are not included in ESPN’s national results.
New Orleans was the top neutral market with a 15.5, followed by Norfolk, Va. (11.7) and Kansas City (11.3).
The full list of Week 7 NFL ratings is available here.
* ESPN did not air a Week 7 game from 2002-05.
[Numbers from ESPN PR, Nielsen via ShowBuzz Daily 10.23]
