A terrible matchup on paper still propelled ESPN to its sixth Monday Night Football increase in seven weeks.
Giants-49ers earned a 6.3 rating and 10.5 million viewers on the Week 10 edition of ESPN’s Monday Night Football, up 17% in ratings and 19% in viewership from last year (Dolphins-Panthers: 5.4, 8.8M) but down 6% and 2% respectively from 2016 (Bengals-Giants: 6.7, 10.7M).
The Giants’ narrow win, which peaked at a 7.3 and 11.9 million from 11-11:15 PM ET, delivered the third-smallest Monday night audience of the season. The two Week 1 games — Jets-Lions (10.3M) and Rams-Raiders (9.6M) — rank lower.
Given the matchup — 1-7 New York against 2-7 San Francisco — far worse numbers could have been expected.
Including the Spanish-language audience on ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes, Monday’s game had an audience of 10.6 million.
MNF scored a 3.5 rating in adults 18-49, up 17% from last year (3.0) but down a tick from 2016 (3.6). Ratings also increased in adults 18-34 (2.8, +12%) and adults 25-54 (4.0, +18%).
For the season, Monday Night Football is now averaging 11.4 million viewers, up 4% from the comparable point last year. Ratings and viewership have now increased in six of the past seven weeks.
ESPN’s telecast had a 6.8 rating in New York and a 6.7 in San Francisco. Local over-the-air simulcasts had a 4.8 on Channel 11 in New York and an 11.9 on KGO-ABC in the Bay Area. Simulcast figures are not included in ESPN’s national averages.
The full list of Week 10 NFL ratings is available here.
[Numbers from ESPN PR; additional info from ShowBuzz Daily 11.13]
