ESPN’s Monday Night Football matchup between the Indianapolis Colts and Jacksonville Jaguars tackled the franchise’s second largest audience of the 2007 season.
The Oct. 22 game – a 29-7 rout for the undefeated Colts over their AFC South rivals—drew a 9.5 household rating, nearly 9.22 million homes and almost 12.5 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research data. That trailed only the 13 million viewers that tuned in for the Dallas Cowboys’ 25-24 last-second win over the Buffalo Bills on Oct. 8, which marked the only time this season MNF topped the results of the corresponding telecast during the 2006 NFL season.
The same rule applied this past Monday night, as Colts-Jags came up 22% short of the record 16 million average audience for the Oct. 23, 2006 Cowboys-New York Giants game, which was the most-viewed telecast in ESPN history.
The total sports network did extend its winning demo streak on Oct. 22: ESPN once again set the pace among males 18 to 34, 18 to 49 and 25 to 54 and persons 18 to 34 and 18 to 49 for all of TV that night. MNF has held the ranking throughout the season with those key demo groups, according to network officials.
Moreover, MNF leads all primetime shows, including NBC’s Sunday Night Football in length of tune, connecting with viewers for an average off 55.9 minutes.
ESPN’s upcoming MNF contest on Oct. 29, the Green Bay Packers at the Denver Broncos, may move up 30 minutes to 8 p.m. (ET) because of Fox's coverage of the World Series. If the Fall Classic between the Boston Red Sox and Colorado Rockies reaches a fifth game, it would be played in Denver’s Coors Field. If the World Series is over, or weather conditions postpone MLB’s championship, ESPN will present MNF in its regular timeslot.
