Ratings for Monday Night Football fell to a near season low this week, as the New York Giants took on the Atlanta Falcons at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
The Falcons toppled the Giants in a close 23-20 final on Monday, but despite the exciting finish as the Giants clawed back to a near win, ESPN’s broadcast earned a disappointing 7.5 result in metered markets, Deadline Hollywood reported.
This result was down 11 percent from last week’s Monday night game and only three percent better than the season-low from October 8. The game was also down five percent over last year’s Week Seven game on Monday night.
It was still enough to win the night for TV, though, as Monday Night Football topped the next highest shows such as NBC offerings The Voice and mystery series Manifest with a 1.8 and 1.4 rating respectively. Meanwhile, the debut of CW’s super hero show, Legends of Tomorrow aired at a series low earning but a 0.3 in metered markets.
Monday’s football ratings crash comes as bad news to the league that had been touting its recent return to ratings gold. By some measures, the NFL had halted its ratings plunge and even earned a modest three percent rise.
But only days after news that the league had seen those modest ratings gains, Thursday Night Football saw another season low and that is only added to the underperformance of this week’s Monday night game.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.