ESPN’s Monday Night Football audience grew for the third consecutive week, as the 28-point victory by the Arizona Cardinals over the Dallas Cowboys generated 11,317,000 viewers and surpassed MNF’s Chargers-Saints (week 5) and Atlanta-Green Bay (week 4) viewership.
The Cardinals-Cowboys audience included four consecutive quarter-hours of more than 12.5 million viewers (8:45-9:45 p.m.) — including peak audiences of 13.3 million viewers for consecutive quarter-hours (9:15-9:45 p.m.) — when the Cardinals extended their lead from 7-0 to 21-0, before heading into halftime with a 21-3 lead.
ESPN’s presentation of the Cardinals-Cowboys led all sporting events in key advertising demos: P18-49, P25-54, M18-49, and M25-54.
Specifically in primetime, Monday Night Football was the most-watched telecast and ESPN was the most-watched network (broadcast or cable) among households, viewers and all key demos (M18-34, M18-49, M25-54, M55+, P18-34, P18-49 and P25-54).
For the entire season, MNF is now averaging 11,255,000 viewers per game (seven games) based on Nielsen’s day-after reporting.
Locally, Dallas was the highest-rated market, generating a combined 21.6 rating across ESPN and on affiliate WFAA.
Phoenix was the second best market with a 17.6 rating, also combined across ESPN and on affiliate KSAZ. Of the 44 markets available, the complete top 10:
Top Markets Available
| Rank |
Market |
Local Rating |
| 1 |
Dallas |
21.6* |
| 2 |
Phoenix |
17.6* |
| 3 |
San Antonio |
13.4 |
| 4 |
Austin |
12.5 |
| 5 |
San Diego |
10.8 |
| 6 |
Seattle |
10.4 |
| 7 |
Las Vegas |
9.9 |
| 8 |
Philadelphia |
9.8 |
| 9 |
Columbus |
9.3 |
| 10 |
Denver |
9.1 |
| |
Sacramento |
9.1 |
*Includes ESPN and local affiliate rating
SoFi Stadium Set to Host First Monday Night Football Game; Division-Leading Bears are in Los Angeles
ESPN’s Monday Night Football continues in week 7with the NFC North leading Chicago Bears (5-1) traveling to the Los Angeles Rams (4-2), as SoFi Stadium will host its first MNF game on Monday Oct. 26 (8:15 p.m.). Quarterback Nick Foles and the Bears enter the road contest on a two game winning streak, while quarterback Jared Goff and the Rams are undefeated at their new home. Steve Levy, Brian Griese, Louis Riddick, Lisa Salters, and John Parry will have the call.
Please note: 2020 Nielsen numbers now includes out-of-home reporting. Day after reporting only includes a portion of the overall streaming audience. More metrics are available in the subsequent days following an event.
