Disney Networks Averaged Nearly 21 Million Viewers during Monday Night Football’s Two Hours of Overlapping Action

NFL

Disney Networks Averaged Nearly 21 Million Viewers during Monday Night Football’s Two Hours of Overlapping Action

  • Audience During Overlapping Period was Greater than Record-Setting MNF Week 1 Viewership on Same Networks
  • Audience Peaked at 22.2 Million Viewers During Overlapping Period
  • More Than 3.9 Billion Minutes Watched Across Disney Networks Throughout the Night
  • ABC and ESPN – Two Most-Viewed Networks of the Night

During Monday Night Football’s Week 2, Disney Networks averaged 20.6 million viewers (ESPN, ABC, ESPN2, ESPN Deportes and ESPN+) when Tennessee-Buffalo and Minnesota-Philadelphia were shown simultaneously, a two hour period (8:30– 10:30 p.m. ET). The 20.6 million viewers bested the record-setting Monday Night Football Week 1 audience across the same five networks (19.85 million viewers from 8:14 – 11:18 p.m. on Sept.12) and peaked at 22.2 million viewers from 9:15 – 9:30 pm. The impressive combined viewership mounted despite the Buffalo Bills scoring 31 unanswered points on their way to a lopsided 41-7 victory, and the Eagles jumping out a 24-7 lead during the overlapping period.

Examining closer, fans watched nearly four billion minutes of Monday Night Football in Week 2 across the same Disney Networks, which is up from the 3.7 billion minutes watched for ESPN’s most recent Monday Night Football doubleheader in 2020 (Week 1 with kickoffs at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m.). Additionally, the 3.9 billion minutes watched is up 56% from a standard, standalone Monday Night Football game (approximately 2.6 billion minutes on a weekly basis since 2006).

Individually, ABC and ESPN were the most-viewed networks of the night across all of television, and both games were the most-watched telecasts of the night. Minnesota-Philadelphia averaged 12.9 million viewers (ABC/ESPN+) and Tennessee-Buffalo averaged 7.9 million viewers (ESPN/ESPN2/ESPN Deportes).

Additional data will be available in the coming days, providing further insight to how viewers navigated the two games. This was the first time ESPN/Disney, in conjunction with the NFL, presented Monday Night Football with scheduled overlapping action.  

ESPN’s Monday Night Football features its first of four consecutive divisional showdowns when the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants match up in Week 3 (Sept. 26, 8 p.m.). Joe Buck, Troy Aikman and Lisa Salters will call the game on ESPN, ABC and ESPN+. Monday Night Football with Peyton and Eli returns on ESPN2.

Viewership reported by Nielsen includes streaming audience across ESPN/Disney and NFL digital properties.

 

 

Derek Volner

I currently lead ESPN’s NFL Communications, including Monday Night Football, NFL Draft and studio programming. Previously, I did the same for ESPN’s vast college football portfolio. I have been with ESPN since 2013.
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