Pats-Saints Doesn’t Break Cable Record, But Gets Close

The overnight ratings for Monday night’s Patriots-Saints game beat out Packers-Vikings in October, but when the final ratings were tabulated, it ended up just shy. It turns out to be the second most-watched game in cable TV history and the second highest rating in ESPN’s 30 year history. Check out the press release:

ESPN’s Monday Night Football: 21.4 Million Viewers for Patriots-Saints Game

Second Most-Watched Cable Program of All-Time in Households and Viewers;

Second-Highest Rating in ESPN History;

ESPN Wins the Night in Households, Viewers, and Key Male and Adult Demos Among All Networks

This week’s Monday Night Football game on ESPN – the New Orleans Saints’ improving to 11-0 with a 38-17 victory over the New England Patriots – earned a 15.0 rating, representing an average of 14,872,000 households (21,402,000 viewers – P2+), making it the second most-watched cable telecast of all time among both households and viewers, as well as ESPN’s second-highest rating in the network’s 30-year history. The MNF game also ranks as the top prime time program of the past two weeks (since 11/16/09) among all broadcast and cable networks in households, viewers, and all key male and adult demos.

The Patriots-Saints game finished just shy of ESPN’s Monday Night Football telecast October 5 (Green Bay Packers at Minnesota Vikings), which set the all-time cable records for households (15,136,000) and viewers (21,839,000), based on an ESPN-record 15.3 rating. ESPN has set the cable household viewership record four times in as many years since acquiring the rights to MNF. In all, cable’s seven biggest household audiences ever — and eight of the top 10 – (excluding breaking news) are ESPN MNF games.

Monday’s game delivered a combined 35.0 rating in Boston (13.1 on ESPN and 21.9 on WCVB-ABC), as well as a combined 66.7 rating in New Orleans (23.3 on ESPN and 43.4 on WDSU-NBC). The New Orleans rating is the highest combined local rating for ESPN’s Monday Night Football this year, surpassing the 63.9 in New Orleans for the Falcons-Saints game (Nov. 2).

For 2009, ESPN’s MNF telecasts represent cable’s 12 biggest audiences among households and viewers (and 13 of the top 14 among households). Through 12 weeks (13 games) of the NFL season, ESPN’s MNF is averaging a 10.6 rating and 10,447,000 households (14,560,000 P2+), up 18 percent, 18 percent and 19 percent, respectively, from last season.

ESPN DEPORTES

ESPN Deportes’ Spanish-language coverage of Monday Night Football also delivered its highest rating and most-watched NFL game ever. The Patriots-Saints delivered a 1.5 Hispanic rating and 77,000 Hispanic households, surpassing the 1.4 Hispanic rating and 68,000 Hispanic households from the Jets-Dolphins game (Oct. 12). For the season, MNF games on ESPN Deportes are averaging a 1.0 Hispanic rating, 46,000 Hispanic households and 62,000 Hispanic viewers, increases of 150%, 171% and 100%, respectively, from 2008.

ESPN.COM

ESPN.com had 75.6 million page views to NFL content accessed via computers and mobile devices for Monday thru Tuesday at noon — up 13 percent from the comparable time period last year. Specifically, page views for the NFL section on computers and mobile were up 20 percent from last year. Additionally, ESPN.com streamed 1.5 million NFL related videos.

Most-Viewed Monday Night Football Games on ESPN (2006 – Present)

Rank Date Teams Viewers (000s)/HHs (000s)

1. 10/05/2009 – Green Bay Packers-Minnesota Vikings, 21,839/15,136

2. 11/30/2009 – New England Patriots-New Orleans Saints, 21,402/14,872

3. 09/15/2008 – Philadelphia Eagles-Dallas Cowboys, 18,608/12,953

4. 12/03/2007 – New England Patriots-Baltimore Ravens, 17,522/12,529

5. 10/23/2006 – New York Giants-Dallas Cowboys,16,028/11,807

6. 11/09/2009 – Pittsburgh Steelers-Denver Broncos, 16,002/11,358

7. 09/28/2009 – Carolina Panthers-Dallas Cowboys, 15,705/11,354

8. 09/25/2006 – Atlanta Falcons-New Orleans Saints, 14,999/10,850

9. 09/21/2009 – Indianapolis Colts-Miami Dolphins, 14,710/10,849

10. 10/16/2006 – Chicago Bears-Arizona Cardinals, 14,231/10,804

Top 10 Most-Viewed Programs in Cable Television History (Households):

Rank Date Teams Network HHs (000s)

1. 10/05/2009 – Green Bay Packers-Minnesota Vikings, ESPN, 15,136

2. 11/30/2009 – New England Patriots-New Orleans Saints, ESPN, 14,872

3. 09/15/2008 – Philadelphia Eagles-Dallas Cowboys, ESPN, 12,953

4. 12/03/2007 – New England Patriots-Baltimore Ravens, ESPN, 12,529

5. 10/23/2006 – New York Giants-Dallas Cowboys, ESPN, 11,807

6. 11/09/2009 – Pittsburgh Steelers-Denver Broncos, ESPN, 11,358

7. 09/28/2009 – Carolina Panthers-Dallas Cowboys, ESPN, 11,354

8. 11/09/1993 – Larry King (NAFTA Debate), CNN, 11,174

9. 10/02/2008 – Vice Presidential Debate, FOX NEWS, 11,098

10. 09/25/2006 – Atlanta Falcons-New Orleans Saints, ESPN, 10,850

Top 10 Most-Viewed Programs in Cable Television History (Viewers):

Rank Date Teams Network Viewers (000s)

1. 10/05/2009 – Green Bay Packers-Minnesota Vikings, ESPN, 21,839

2. 11/30/2009 – New England Patriots-New Orleans Saints, ESPN, 21,402

3. 09/15/2008 – Philadelphia Eag
les-Dallas Cowboys, ESPN, 18,608

4. 12/03/2007 – New England Patriots-Baltimore Ravens, ESPN, 17,522

5. 08/17/2007 – High School Musical 2, Disney Channel, 17,241

6. 11/09/1993 – Larry King (NAFTA Debate), CNN, 16,837

7. 12/25/1994 – Detroit Lions-Miami Dolphins, ESPN, 16,063

8. 10/23/2006 – New York Giants-Dallas Cowboys, ESPN, 16,028

9. 11/09/2009 – Pittsburgh Steelers-Denver Broncos, ESPN, 16,002

10. 09/28/2009 – Carolina Panthers-Dallas Cowboys, ESPN, 15,705

Note: excluding breaking news; live + same day

Top 3 Ratings in ESPN History:

Rank Date Teams Rating

1 10/05/2009 Green Bay Packers-Minnesota Vikings 15.3

2 11/30/2009 New England Patriots-New Orleans Saints 15.0

3 12/06/1987 Chicago Bears-Minnesota Vikings 14.4

RAVENS-PACKERS AT LAMBEAU FIELD THIS WEEK ON MNF

This week’s MNF game on ESPN Dec. 7 will be a matchup of playoff hopefuls when Ray Lewis and the Baltimore Ravens travel to historic Lambeau Field to face Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers at 8:30 p.m. ET. ESPN’s game around the game coverage begins at 3:30 p.m. with NFL Live and continues throughout the afternoon.

It’s always interesting to see how Monday Night Football does each week. To say it’s a monster cable hit is an understatement.