Is Monday Night Football a cable TV success? Is the Pope Catholic? Staggering numbers for MNF on ESPN for the Packers-Bears game. It helps the game went down to the final seconds, plus you had both teams undefeated. The Bears are an attraction for the NFL and when Chicago does well, it normally gets very good numbers as was the case on Monday. Overall, the game became the most watched program on cable this year and drew almost 17.5 million viewers plus it was the number one program on both broadcast and cable for the night.
Here’s the notice from ESPN.
ESPN’s Monday Night Football Attracts Fifth Most-Watched Program in Cable Television History and Cable’s Biggest Audience of 2010Packers-Bears: 17.5 Million Viewers, Wins the Night in Key Male and Adult Demos among All Networks in Prime TimeESPN’s Monday Night Football – a thrilling 20-17 Chicago Bears’ win over the Green Bay Packers – earned a 12.5 household coverage rating (10.8 US rating), representing an average of 12,482,000 households (17,454,000 viewers – P2+), making the telecast the fifth most-watched cable program in history among both households and viewers (excluding breaking news), and the biggest cable television audience of the year.
MNF led all programs (broadcast or cable) in all key male and adult demos and helped ESPN win the night among all networks in those same categories.Through the first three weeks (four games), ESPN’s MNF is averaging a 10.9 household rating, 10,839,000 households (14,979,000 viewers), increases of five, six and seven percent, respectively. ESPN MNF games rank as the five biggest audiences among households and the four biggest among total viewers for cable television in 2010. The 2009 MNF season finale (Minnesota Vikings-Chicago Bears, 12/28/09) previously topped the list for the Nielsen 2010 calendar with a 12.0 rating, 11,899,000 households and 17,006,000 viewers.ESPN.com had more than 213 million page views and 308 million minutes (a 22 percent increase) generated with NFL content on Sunday and Monday. ESPN’s Mobile web site had 14.4 million page views and more than 102 million minutes (up 45 percent), spent with NFL content on the ESPN mobile web site and ScoreCenter App.NEXT WEEK ON MNFESPN’s MNF returns next week (Oct. 4) with Tom Brady and the New England Patriots facing Brandon Marshall and the Miami Dolphins at Sun Life Stadium at 8:30 p.m. ET in a key matchup of AFC East rivals. ESPN’s game around the game coverage begins at 3:30 p.m. with NFL Live and continues throughout the afternoon.
That’s the poop.
