Monday night’s Cleveland at Washington NFL preseason game gave ESPN its highest ratings and biggest audience in five years. ESPN’s Monday Night Football garnered a 4.5 rating and an average 6.898 million viewers. It’s the highest-rated and biggest audience since a 2009 Houston Texans-Minnesota Vikings preseason game (5.2 rating and 7.918 million viewers).
ESPN won the night in primetime across cable and against broadcast competition.
Here’s the ESPN press release.
ESPN’s MNF Preseason: Browns-Redskins Scores 4.5 Household US Rating and 6.9 Million Viewers
Last night’s ESPN Monday Night Football preseason telecast – a Washington Redskins 24-23 victory over the Cleveland Browns – delivered a 4.5 household US rating and 6,898,000 viewers, according to Nielsen. The telecast is the highest-rated and most-viewed NFL preseason game on ESPN in five years (8/31/09: Houston Texans-Minnesota Vikings (with Brett Favre), 5.2 HH rating and 7,918,000 viewers).
Browns-Redskins ranks as ESPN’s fifth highest-rated and sixth most-viewed NFL preseason game (since 1990).
MNF was the No. 1 show of the night across cable and broadcast in households, viewers and all key male and adult demos, and helped ESPN win the night on Monday among all networks (broadcast or cable) in all key male demos, as well as adults 18-49 and 25-54.
In Cleveland, the game delivered a 7.3 rating on ESPN and a 21.1 rating on WKYC-NBC, for a combined 28.5 rating in the market. In Washington, the game delivered a 7.1 rating on ESPN and a 6.5 rating on WDCA-IND, for a combined 13.6 rating in the market.
ESPN’s two MNF preseason games in 2014 averaged a 3.5 US rating and 5,355,000 viewers, the network’s highest-rated and most-viewed NFL preseason since 2009 (four games: 3.7 HH US rating and 5,038,000 viewers). The Jacksonville Jaguars-Chicago Bears game on Aug. 14 delivered a 2.6 US rating and 3,835,000 viewers.
ESPN Deportes
The two MNF preseason games on ESPN Deportes, ESPN’s Spanish-language sports network, averaged a 0.2 Hispanic HH rating, a 13 percent gain over the 2013 preseason, with 23,000 Hispanic HHs, up 17 percent, and 31,000 Hispanic P2+ viewers, a 21 percent increase. In addition, last week’s Jaguars-Bears game averaged over 40,000 Hispanic viewers, making it the most-watched NFL preseason game ever on the network.
MNF Season-Opening Doubleheader on Sept. 8:
The 45th season of Monday Night Football will kick off on ESPN with a doubleheader Monday, September 8 – New York Giants at Detroit Lions (7 p.m. ET) and San Diego Chargers at Arizona Cardinals (10:15 p.m.). ESPN’s 17-game prime time regular season schedule in 2014 will feature all 12 playoff teams from 2013, including both the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks and AFC champion Denver Broncos.
That’s all.
