Cowboys-Cardinals Helps ESPN Win the Night among All Networks for the Third Straight Week
ESPN’s Monday Night Football game – a Dallas Cowboys’ 28-17 victory over the Arizona Cardinals – averaged 13.8 million viewers across ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes, according to Nielsen, a 71 percent increase year-over-year for week 3. Note: The MNF audience is likely to grow by eight percent once all streaming and out-of-home audiences are included, based on ESPN’s new Nielsen Total Audience measurement.
- On ESPN, Cowboys-Cardinals averaged an 8.2 US household rating and 13,691,000 viewers. The game peaked during the 10:30-10:45 p.m. ET quarter hour with a 9.1 US household rating and 15,325,000 viewers. Cowboys-Cardinals ranks as the second most-watched MNF game on ESPN in the last two seasons (behind only Lions-Cowboys on Dec. 26, 2016 with 18,605,000 viewers).
- On ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes, Cowboys-Cardinals averaged an additional 152,000 viewers – 96,000 viewers on ESPN Deportes and 56,000 on ESPN2, making it the most-watched Spanish-language MNF game on ESPN networks since 2013.
MNF helped ESPN win the night among all networks (broadcast or cable) on Monday in households, viewers and all key male and adult demos (18-34, 18-49 and 25-54). This is the third straight Monday ESPN has won the night in all categories.
Through three weeks (four games), ESPN’s MNF viewership is averaging 11,887,000 viewers, a 10 percent increase through week 3 a year ago (10,842,000).
In Dallas, the game delivered a 9.2 rating on ESPN and a 19.8 rating on WFAA-ABC, for a combined 29.0 rating in the market. In Phoenix, the game delivered a 13.6 rating on ESPN and an 8.6 on KUTP-IND, for a combined 22.2 rating in the market.
The top 10 metered markets (not including those of the competing teams): San Antonio (20.9), Austin (20.3), Norfolk (15.1), Richmond-Petersburg (14.0), Albuquerque-Santa Fe (13.7), Memphis (13.4), Washington D.C. (13.3), New Orleans (12.9), Philadelphia (12.6) and Buffalo (11.2).
Additionally, across Facebook and Twitter, MNF was the most social telecast of the night for the third week in a row.
ESPN’s Monday Night Football returns next week with the Washington Redskins vs. Kansas City Chiefs from Arrowhead Stadium (October 2 at 8:15 p.m. ET).
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