'MNF' Pass to Cable Sets Ratings Record
By Mike Reynolds -- Multichannel News, 12/31/2006 7:00:00 PM
With the New York Jets defeating the Miami Dolphins 13-10 on Christmas night, ESPN closed the books on its first Monday Night Football season, one that made the primetime pigskin franchise the most-watched series in cable history.
The total sports network averaged a 9.9 household cable rating, 9.11 million homes and some 12.3 million viewers over its 17-game slate, according to Nielsen Media Research data. Those figures represented respective gains of 39%, 43% and 41% over ESPN's averages with Sunday Night Football in 2005 of a 7.1 household rating, 6.39 million homes and 8.74 million viewers.
According to ESPN officials, MNF tackled the 17 largest household audiences for cable in 2006, with more than 109 million tuning into the contests at some point during the season. Four times, ESPN was the most-watched network overall in primetime on Monday. Since the MNF kickoff, ESPN's 24-hour average audience on Sundays and Mondays rose 23%, to 1.49 million homes.
All told, MNF now claims nine of the top 10 spots among cable's biggest audiences ever, excluding breaking news, topped by the Oct. 23 game between the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys that roped a 12.8 rating and 11.8 million homes.
The studio shows at the network, which is paying $1.1 billion annually over an eight-year contract for MNF game rights, also benefited: Monday Night Countdown was up 23% to 2.16 million homes, while Sunday NFL Countdown increased 5% to 2.04 million.
ESPN.com's National Football League and “Monday Night Surround” content for PCs and wireless devices generated an average of 24 million page views, up 52% compared with 2005, according to HitBox.
“ESPN's Monday Night Football greatly exceeded all expectations,” ESPN and ABC Sports president George Bodenheimer said in a statement. “Our commitment to present MNF as never before served our fans and lifted every aspect of ESPN's business.”
Monday nights will also come into play, albeit not nearly as prominently from a Nielsen perspective, under ESPN's recently signed five-year, multimedia rights pact with the Arena Football League, which also includes a reported 10% equity stake.
The deal, which covers 26 contests, including playoffs on ESPN and the circuit's championship game on ABC, feature's Monday night games, beginning March 12.
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