Weekly Cable Ratings: ‘Monday Night Football’ Paces ESPN Primetime Win

By R. Thomas Umstead
published

Sports network ties Fox News for total-day honors

Xavier Gipson of the New York Jets scores the game-winning touchdown during the Sept. 11 ‘Monday Night Football’ game against the Buffalo Bills.
Xavier Gipson of the New York Jets scores the game-winning touchdown during the Sept. 11 ‘Monday Night Football’ game against the Buffalo Bills. (Image credit: Getty Images)

ESPN rode its season-opening Monday Night Football telecast to the top of the primetime basic-cable ratings chart last week.

ESPN averaged 2.7 million viewers in primetime during the week of September 11-17 to win for the second straight week, according to Nielsen numbers supplied by Fox News Channel. The sports network benefited from the more than 11 million viewers who tuned in to see its September 11 New York Jets-Buffalo Bills telecast.

Fox News finished second for the week with 1.7 million viewers, followed by MSNBC’s 1.2 million viewers and HGTV’s 850,000 watchers. USA Network moved into fifth place with 773,000 viewers, followed by Hallmark Channel (730,000 viewers), TLC (674,000), INSP (628,000), TBS (565,000) and Food Network (538,000).

ESPN and Fox News tied for the top spot on a total day basis with 1.1 million viewers, followed by MSNBC (805,000), HGTV (437,000) and CNN (433,000), 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.