A rare marquee matchup breathed life into ESPN’s Monday Night Football ratings.
Chiefs-Rams scored an 11.3 overnight rating on ESPN’s Monday Night Football last night, up 57% from last year (Falcons-Seahawks: 7.2), up 40% from 2016 (Texans-Raiders: 8.1), and the highest MNF overnight since Week 8 in 2014 (Washington-Dallas: 12.1).
The previous high over that span was a 10.7 for Cowboys-Lions in Week 16 two years ago. The previous high this season was a 9.1 for Chiefs-Broncos in Week 4.
The Rams’ high-scoring win, which peaked at a 12.5 from 11:45 PM ET through Midnight, delivered the highest Week 11 Monday Night Football overnight in 13 years — since Vikings-Packers on ABC in 2005 (11.4).
Chiefs-Rams ranks fourth among sporting events on cable in 2018. The three College Football Playoff games on ESPN hold the top spots. It ranks ahead of the Villanova-Michigan NCAA men’s basketball championship last April, which aired on Turner Sports (10.3), as well as Game 7 of the NBA’s Warriors-Rockets Western Conference Finals on TNT (10.3) and Game 7 of the Cavaliers-Celtics Eastern Conference Finals on ESPN (9.1).
Notably, the 11.3 topped four of this year’s five World Series games on over-the-air FOX and the NBA Finals Game 4 clincher on ABC (11.2).
ESPN’s telecast had a 16.6 rating in Kansas City and a 10.4 in Los Angeles. Simulcast coverage on local ABC affiliates earned a 36.2 on KMBC in Kansas City and a 9.2 on L.A.’s KABC. The simulcast figures are not included in ESPN’s national results.
New Orleans was the top neutral market with a 21.4 rating. San Diego (16.2), Denver (15.7) and Seattle (15.5) followed.
[Numbers from ESPN]
