SMW: Over 16 Million Viewers For Chiefs-Rams on MNF

Rams v Chiefs killed the ratings .... the Rams have been involved in at least 6 of the top 10 most watched football games this year

I was concerned that they would flex the Rams out of the SNF matchup with the Eagles given the Eagles collapse on 12/16 but with these kinds of ratings I’m beginning to think they will keep it. The Eagles need to win a couple of games here though.


[www.sportsmediawatch.com]

ESPN’s strongest Monday Night Football matchup in years delivered blockbuster — if not record-setting — numbers.



Chiefs-Rams delivered a 9.7 rating and 16.6 million viewers on the Week 11 edition of ESPN’s Monday Night Football, up 52% in ratings and 53% in viewership from last year (Falcons-Seahawks: 6.4, 10.8M) and up 41% in both measures from 2016 (Texans-Raiders: 6.9, 11.8M).

Los Angeles’ thrilling win, which peaked at an 11.1 and 18.9 million from 11:45 PM through Midnight ET, was the highest rated and most-watched Monday Night Football game since Week 16 of the 2016 season (Cowboys-Lions: 10.1, 18.6M).

Excluding Cowboys games, it was the most-watched since Week 15 in 2011 (Steelers-49ers: 16.7M).

In addition, it was the highest rated Week 11 MNF game since 2013 (Patriots-Panthers: 9.9) and the most-watched since 2002 on ABC (Bears-Rams: 17.7M).

Overall, Chiefs-Rams earned the 17th-largest NFL audience in ESPN history. The record remains 21.8 million for Packers-Vikings in 2009.

For the year, Monday’s game ranks fourth among all cable sporting events. The three College Football Playoff games hold the top spots. It topped the Villanova-Michigan NCAA men’s basketball championship on Turner Sports (16.0M) and both NBA conference final Game 7s on cable — Warriors-Rockets on TNT (14.9M) and Cavaliers-Celtics on ESPN (13.6M).

Including Spanish-language viewership on ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes, the game had 16.7 million.

Chiefs-Rams was a rare marquee NFL game on ESPN. The network has in recent years been saddled with a mediocre schedule and subpar ratings. It typically gets just one game a year involving the league’s marquee teams, and even then only against unappealing opponents. Its Cowboys and Patriots games this year were against the Titans and Bills, respectively.

This week was different. Kansas City and Los Angeles were both 9-1 entering Monday’s game, boasting young stars, high-powered offenses, and legitimate Super Bowl aspirations. Had the NFL known in April what a strong matchup it would be, Chiefs-Rams would likely have been set aside for NBC’s favored Sunday night package.

MNF scored a 5.5 rating in adults 18-49, up 57% from last year (3.5), up 38% from 2016 (4.0), and the highest for the series since Cowboys-Lions in ’16 (5.8). It also had a 4.5 in adults 18-34 (+55%) and a 6.5 in adults 25-54 (+58%), also the highest since 2016.

Monday’s strong performance lifted ESPN’s season average to 13.2 million, up 21% from the same point last year (10.9M) and a multi-year high.

[Numbers from ESPN PR, Nielsen via ShowBuzz Daily 11.20]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/21/2018 05:12AM by Speed_Kills.