Weekly Cable Ratings: ESPN Tackles Fox News for Primetime Top Spot

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ESPN’s Falcons-Eagles ‘Monday Night Football’ telecast drives network’s ratings

Bijan Robinson #7 of the Atlanta Falcons gets tackled by Avonte Maddox #29 of the Philadelphia Eagles during the second quarter in the game at Lincoln Financial Field on September 16, 2024
Bijan Robinson #7 of the Atlanta Falcons gets tackled by Avonte Maddox #29 of the Philadelphia Eagles during the second quarter in the game at Lincoln Financial Field on September 16, 2024 (Image credit: Getty Images)

ESPN’s Monday Night Football telecast helped the sports network barely beat out Fox News for top honors in primetime last week.

ESPN averaged 2.56 million viewers for the week of September 16-22 to top Fox News’ 2.51 million viewers, ending the news network’s three-week winning streak, according to Nielsen numbers supplied by Fox News.

The sports network was bolstered by its September 16 Philadelphia Eagles-Atlanta Falcons Monday Night Football telecast, which drew 13.6 million viewers, according to Nielsen.  

MSNBC finished third with 1.4 million viewers, followed by USA Network’s 780,000 viewers and CNN’s 681,000 watchers.

Hallmark Channel was sixth with 635,000 viewers, followed by HGTV (540,000 viewers), Food Network (496,000), TBS (493,000) and INSP (486,000). 

Fox News pushed its total day win streak to 37 weeks, averaging 1.5 million viewers. MSNBC finished second with 952,000 viewers, followed by ESPN (848,000 viewers), CNN (517,000) and Hallmark Channel (349,000), according to Nielsen. 

R. Thomas Umstead
R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.