Monday Night Football hit a five-year ratings high in Week 15.
Saints-Panthers delivered a 7.9 rating and 13.0 million viewers on the Week 15 edition of ESPN’s Monday Night Football, up 39% in ratings and 38% in viewership from last year (Falcons-Buccaneers: 5.7, 9.4M) and up 16% in both measures from 2016 (Carolina-Washington: 6.8, 11.2M).
The Saints’ narrow win, which peaked at a 9.3 and 15.3 million from 11-11:15 PM ET, was the highest rated and most-watched Week 15 edition of MNF since 2013 (Ravens-Lions: 9.0, 14.2M).
It was the seventh MNF game this season to hit a multi-year high, and the tenth to increase overall (16 total telecasts).
Monday’s game tied the second-best NFL rating on ESPN this season and delivered the third-largest audience. Chiefs-Rams in Week 11 holds the top spot (9.7, 16.6M), followed by Chiefs-Broncos in Week 4 (7.9, 13.2M).
Including the Spanish-language audience on ESPN Deportes (86K), the game had 13.1 million viewers. On ESPN alone, MNF is now averaging 11.8 million viewers this season (+10%).
In the key young adult demographics, ratings also hit five-year highs in adults 18-49 (4.0, +27%), adults 18-34 (3.0, +20%) and adults 25-54 (3.6, +31%).
ESPN’s telecast delivered a 13.4 rating in New Orleans and a 10.3 in Charlotte. Local over-the-air simulcasts scored a 46.4 on New Orleans NBC affiliate WDSU and a 16.1 on Charlotte FOX affiliate WJZY. Simulcast figures are not included in ESPN’s national results.
Greensboro, S.C., led all markets for ESPN’s telecast with a 16.9 rating, followed by New Orleans, Raleigh-Durham (13.3), Norfolk, Va. (12.7) and Kansas City (12.3).
[Numbers from ESPN PR, Nielsen via ShowBuzz Daily 12.18]
