A big market rivalry game with playoff implications sounds like a recipe for strong ratings, unless those teams are a combined 7-17.
The latest edition of ESPN’s Monday Night Football (Giants-Eagles) averaged a 6.9 rating and 11.36 million viewers, narrowly marking the series’ smallest Week 14 audience in eight years (2011 Rams-Seahawks: 9.88M).
Ratings were flat and viewership down just a fraction of a percent from the previous low set last year (Vikings-Seahawks: 11.39M). Compared to 2017, both measures slipped 4% from a 7.2 and 11.78 million for Patriots-Dolphins.
Philadelphia’s overtime win, which peaked with 12.46 million viewers from 9:30-9:45 PM ET, was just the fifth Monday night game to decline from last season and the fourth to hit a multi-year low.
Including the Spanish-language audience of 83,000 on ESPN Deportes (+13%), the game averaged 11.44 million (-0.1%).
MNF is now averaging 12.55 million viewers on ESPN (+7%) and 104,000 on ESPN Deportes (+24%).
ESPN’s telecast averaged a 12.4 rating in Philadelphia and a 6.7 in New York City. Coverage was simulcast on ABC affiliates in both markets, averaging a 19.7 on WPVI in Philadelphia and a 7.3 on Channel 7 in New York. The local simulcasts are not included in ESPN’s national results.
West Palm Beach, Fla., was the top neutral market for the game with an 11.0 rating, followed by Norfolk, Va. (10.7), Hartford & New Haven (10.5) and Baltimore (9.7). With the Cowboys battling the Eagles for the NFC East crown, Dallas-Ft. Worth clocked in at a 9.4 and Austin, Tex., at a 9.3.
MNF drew a 3.5 rating in adults 18-49, even with last year and down 8% from 2017 (3.8). The 3.5 is tied as ESPN’s lowest Week 14 rating in the demo since 2007 (Saints-Falcons: 3.2). It also drew a 2.7 in adults 18-34 (-6%), the network’s lowest in Week 14 since at least 2000.
[Nielsen estimates from ESPN PR, ShowBuzz Daily 12.10]
