Monday Night Football audience falls to 11.9 million for Falcons-Saints game

The Oct. 5 Monday Night Football game between the Atlanta Falcons and New Orleans Saints averaged about 11.9 million viewers across ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes, cutting the season average for the package, Fox News reported.

Fox News said the Week 3 Monday night game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Chicago Bears drew 22.6 million viewers, nearly double the Falcons-Saints audience. Before the Atlanta-New Orleans game, Monday Night Football had averaged 21.8 million viewers through the first three weeks of the season; the Oct. 5 crowd reduced the season average to 19.325 million, the report said.

Fox News reported Atlanta won the game 45-24 and described the contest as largely uncompetitive. The article said the decline in viewers is likely attributable to the teams involved and the on-field product rather than broader interest in the broadcast package.

The report noted ESPN marketed the broadcast around the 20th anniversary of the Saints’ return to the Superdome after Hurricane Katrina and called the pregame commemoration well done, even as more viewers than usual skipped the game that followed.

Looking ahead, Fox News said ESPN’s upcoming Bills-Rams matchup is a more nationally attractive pairing and could draw a larger audience if competitive, but the report added that Major League Baseball’s League Championship Series — including Dodgers-Brewers on Fox and Rays-Cleveland/Chicago on TBS — could complicate ratings for some future NFL telecasts.

Source: Latest & Breaking News on Fox News