ESPN
posts second-worst 'Monday Night Football' season
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[December 30, 2016]
By Tim Baysinger
(Reuters) - If not for this past Monday
night's highly watched NFL game, The Walt Disney Co's ESPN network
would have had its smallest audience for "Monday Night Football" in
2016 since the 2006 season.
The National Football League has been plagued all season by ratings
downturns, forcing its TV partners to give free extra commercial
time to advertisers to compensate for lower-than-promised ratings.
Advertiser demand has remained high though, as NFL games still
attract more viewers than almost everything else on television,
according to the Nielsen ratings service.
Monday's Dallas Cowboys-Detroit Lions game averaged 18.6 million
viewers, the most ESPN has garnered for a "Monday Night Football"
game since 2014. That helped ESPN post an average of 11.4 million
viewers for its 17 games this season, finishing ahead of only the
2007 season, when it drew 11.2 million, according to Nielsen data
provided by ESPN.
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The NFL franchise moved from ABC to ESPN for the 2006 season; both
companies are owned by The Walt Disney Co
This year marks the third consecutive year that ESPN's "Monday Night
Football" audience has declined, and the fifth decline in the past
six years.
The NFL ratings downturn was most notable in primetime. ESPN was
among the hardest hit, with viewership falling nearly 12 percent
from last season, according to the Nielsen data. ESPN had to contend
with the contentious U.S. presidential election, often cited by
league officials as a key cause for lower ratings this season.
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![](../images/123016pics/sports47.jpg)
Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott (21) celebrates with teammates
after scoring a touchdown during the second half against the Detroit
Lions at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY
Sports
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While
the election hurt NFL ratings, the three major U.S. cable news
networks – 21st Century Fox's Fox News, Comcast Corp's MSNBC and
Time Warner Inc's CNN – all benefited from the unpredictable race
between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Fox News finished 2016 as the most-watched U.S. cable network in
primetime for the first time in its history, according to Nielsen
data released late on Wednesday. Time Warner's CNN and Comcast
Corp's MSNBC also had huge viewership gains.
(Reporting by Tim Baysinger; Editing by Dan Grebler)
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