Baltimore Ravens-Tampa Bay Buccaneers game averaged over 16 million which was similarly boosted by an ABC simulcast

ESPN’s second-most-watched Week 7 game since 2010 was Monday’s only game that was broadcast on traditional television, though the number might be deceptive. According to ESPN PR, over 16 million people watched the Baltimore Ravens vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers game on average across ABC, ESPN, and ESPN2. The San Francisco 49ers vs. Minnesota Vikings game from last year, which was also enhanced by an ABC simulcast, was, predictably, the most-watched Week 7 MNF game since 2010. On average, 18.6 million people watched that game on all three networks.

The Ravens-Bucs game began approximately forty-five minutes before Monday’s doubleheader’s second leg. The game between the Arizona Cardinals and Los Angeles Chargers began exclusively on ESPN+ at 9:00 p.m. ET. The game attracted a pitiful 1.8 million viewers for the streamer, including those who watched the game on broadcast television in the local markets of the teams, according to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk.

Although it is not as successful as ESPN portrays it to be, 16 million viewers is a respectable rating for a game with direct NFL competition. Across the same three networks, 17.3 million people watched the Buffalo Bills vs. New York Jets MNF game last week on average. The previous week, the New Orleans Saints vs. Kansas City Chiefs game without an ABC simulcast received 15.9 million viewers, making it the highest watched cable-only MNF game since 2019.

Both of the network’s other doubleheaders this season appear to have fared better than Monday’s total. During their overlap time in Week 4, the Seattle Seahawks vs. Detroit Lions and Tennessee Titans vs. Miami Dolphins doubleheaders averaged 20.3 million viewers, while the Seahawks vs. Lions game on ABC drew 15.0 million. During their overlap period, the Washington Commanders-Cincinnati Bengals and Jacksonville Jaguars-Buffalo Bills doubleheader in week three drew an average of nearly 19 million viewers, with the Commanders-Bengals game alone drawing 15.2 million viewers on ABC.

Unlike Monday’s doubleheader, neither of the first two had a game that was only accessible through the ESPN+ paywall. One could assume that the stated 1.8 million viewer count is directionally true, since ESPN did not share viewing figures for that game. If this is the case, the doubleheader’s overlap viewership would be significantly lower than Weeks 3 and 4.

Notably, 1.1 million people watched the Ravens vs. Bucs ManningCast on ESPN2. This is the 30th ManningCast episode to surpass one million viewers. The alt-cast has made a strong recovery since the start of the season.

For the remainder of the season, Monday Night Football viewership is probably going to follow a predictable trend. While games without an ABC simulcast are probably going to experience a drop from the previous season, when all of the games were simulcast on the broadcast network, games with an ABC simulcast will compare favorably to previous years. ESPN’s comparisons should benefit from the NFL’s announcement earlier this month that six more MNF games would be televised.

It’s the NFL, no matter what. Additionally, the NFL’s audience will much outstrip that of other live sports venues. Thus, all of this is essentially semantics.