Monday Night Football ratings hit an all-time low in Week 16, but the full season was the most-watched in three years.
Broncos-Raiders earned a 4.5 rating and 8.60 million viewers on MNF Christmas Eve, down 24% in ratings and 27% in viewership from Raiders-Eagles on Christmas Day last year (5.9, 11.7M), and down 55% and 54% respectively from Cowboys-Lions in 2016 (10.1, 18.6M).
The Raiders’ win, which peaked at a 5.0 and 9.52 million from 9-9:15 PM ET, delivered the lowest rating in the history of Monday Night Football. The previous low was a 4.9 for Falcons-Saints opposite a 2016 presidential debate.
The 4.5 is also the lowest for an NFL game on ESPN since Week 15 of the 2005 season, when the network drew a 3.9 for a Saturday night Broncos-Bills game.
The game fared better in viewership, ranking as the ninth-least watched in MNF history.
The previous time MNF aired on Christmas Eve — 2007 — Broncos-Chargers earned a similarly-low 5.1 and 8.75 million.
ESPN’s telecast had a 14.7 rating in Denver and a 4.3 in the Bay Area. Over-the-air simulcasts drew a 3.1 on independent Denver affiliate KTVD and a 5.9 on Bay Area ABC affiliate KGO.
Despite the lousy ending, Monday Night Football finished the season averaging 11.65 million viewers — up 8% from last year (10.79M), up 2% from 2016 (11.39M) and the highest average in three years (2015: 12.90M). It was the first MNF season since 2013 to post an increase over the previous year, snapping a streak of four straight declines.
Seven of the 17 games had at least a 7.0 rating, the most for MNF in a single season since 2015 (15).
[Numbers from ESPN PR]
