Ratings Roundup: Peyton, Eli Manning on Monday Night Football Doubles Audience; More NFL, College Football Number By SVG Staff
Friday, September 24, 2021 - 7:00 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
Ratings roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press releases and reports around the industry. In this week's edition, Week 2 of Peyton and Eli Manning on Monday Night Football gains traction, Chiefs-Ravens on Sunday Night Football sees its best game in three years, Alabama-Florida becomes most-watched SEC on CBS season opener in nine years, and more.
Monday Night Football Delivers 13.8 Million Viewers, Peyton and Eli Grab 1.9 Million Viewers ESPN's Monday Night Football presentation featuring the Detroit Lions at the Green Bay Packers (September 20, 8 p.m. ET) delivered a total audience of 13,808,000 viewers across ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPN Deportes, the second-most-watched Week 2 MNF game since 2014.
The audience for the Packers' 35-17 victory was up 13% from Week 2 in 2019 (Cleveland at NY Jets) and up 16% from 2018 (Seattle at Chicago), the most recent Week 2 MNF games only on ESPN's cable networks. Last season, ABC propelled MNF's Week 2 telecast (New Orleans at Las Vegas) to become the most-watched MNF telecast of the season.
Monday Night Football with Peyton and Eli's audience increased by 138% in week 2, as 1.9 million viewers watched their alternate telecast of Lions-Packers, up from 800,000 viewers in Week 1. The viewership is a new high for an ESPN alternate telecast since the concept was largely adopted in 2014 (more than 30 offerings). For Peyton and Eli's viewers, more than half (931,000 viewers) were in the adults 18-49 demo.
Viewership reported by Nielsen for ESPN and ESPN2 includes streaming audience across ESPN, NFL, and Yahoo Sports properties.
MNF Up Double Digits Season to Date From Both 2020 and 2019
Through two weeks, ESPN's Monday Night Football is averaging 14.6 million viewers (two games), up 19% from 2019 (three games) and 23% from 2020 (three games).
Additional Monday Night Football Highlights:
Monday Night Football was the most-watched telecast of the night among households, viewers, and all keys demo: Men 18-34, 18-49, 25-54, and 55 as well as persons 18-34, 18-49, 25-54 and P5 on ESPN.
Monday Night Football also helped ESPN become the most-watched network (broadcast and cable) in prime time among households, viewers and the same key male and people demos. (ESPN)
Chiefs-Ravens Thriller Is Most-Watched Week 2 NBC Sunday Night Football Game Since 2018 With Total Audience Delivery of Nearly 21 Million Viewers The Baltimore Ravens' thrilling 36-35 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs last night on NBC and Peacock is the most-watched Week 2 NBC Sunday Night Football game since 2018, based on preliminary data.
Chiefs-Ravens registered a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) average of approximately 20.8 million viewers across NBC TV, Peacock, NBC Sports Digital, and NFL Digital platforms - marking the largest Week 2 NBC SNF audience since Giants-Cowboys in 2018 (21.0 million TAD viewers) and up 13% from last year's Week 2 SNF game (18.4 million TAD for Patriots-Seahawks, 9/20/20).
NBC's TV coverage averaged approximately 20.2 million viewers, with a peak of approximately 22.2 million viewers between 9:15-9:30 p.m. ET.
The Average Minute Audience (AMA) for last night's live stream via Peacock, NBC Sports Digital platforms, NFL Digital platforms, Chiefs and Ravens mobile properties, and Yahoo Sports mobile properties was approximately 630,000 viewers.
Viewership figures are based upon preliminary data from Nielsen and Adobe Analytics. Official national data for NBC will be available on Tuesday.
Last night's game (8:23 p.m.-11:22 p.m. ET) registered a national TV household rating of 10.8/26 - up 8% from last year (10.0/22).
The top 10 markets included Kansas City (48.9/75), Baltimore (30.4/54), Las Vegas (17.1/35), Milwaukee (17.0/32), Denver (16.6/35), Cleveland (16.3/33), Austin (16.2/32), Washington, D.C. (15.6/31), Dallas (15.4/31), and Sacramento (15.4/32). (NBC Sports)
NFL on CBS Continues Strong Start to Season With Impressive Week 2 Viewership The NFL on CBS continues its strong start to the season with its Week 2 viewership on Sunday, Sept. 19 averaging 24.291 million viewers in the national 4:25 PM, ET window, up 28% from Week 2 last season.
Highlighted by Dallas' last-second win over the L.A. Chargers and Tennessee's overtime win over Seattle, the 4:25 PM, ET game window is CBS's most-watched national game window in September since 2014 (Seattle-Denver, 27.296 million; 9/21/14).
And, it is the week's most-watched program on television.
Viewership for the regional 1:00 PM, ET game window delivered an average of 14.179 million viewers, up 44% from Week 2 last season. The early window was highlighted by Las Vegas-Pittsburgh as the high coverage game.
The NFL on CBS's doubleheader averaged 19.290 million viewers, up 33% from last season's Week 2 and is CBS' best doubleheader average in September since 2014 (21.458 million on 9/21/14).
After two weeks of the NFL season, CBS' average viewership is 17.927 million viewers, making it the highest viewer average on CBS for the first two weeks of the regular-season since 2015 (18.176 million in 2015).
Paramount , featuring live NFL on CBS local market games, scored an NFL regular-season viewership record for game minutes consumed for the second consecutive week while registering double-digit year-over-year growth in unique devices and streams from Week 2, 2020. Additionally, Sunday's Dallas Cowboys vs. L.A. Chargers game saw the most streamed minutes for an NFL regular-season contest ever on the service. (CBS Sports)
FOX NFL Matchups Fuel 7% Viewership Growth in Week 2 Fox's
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
14/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
14/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
14/11/2026
Newest Lenses, Horizon Anamorphic Seminar & Guided Lens Character Experience Highlight Creative Possibilities
At the 2026 Toru CAMERIMAGE Film Festival, ZEISS...
14/11/2026
Sonnet Announces Black Friday Sale on Select Products
Brie Clayton November 14, 2026
0 Comments
WHAT: Sonnet Technologies is having a sale on a select...
14/11/2026
Berklee Alumni Shine at the 2026 Latin Grammy Awards This year's winners included songwriters, engineers, and performers who contributed to acclaimed reco...
13/11/2026
The UIM E1 Series wraps its third season this week with the Bombay Sapphire E1 Miami GP, Nov. 11-14, on Biscayne Bay at the Miami Seaplane Base on Watson Island...
13/11/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
13/11/2026
Singer-songwriter Benson Boone will headline entertainment for the Discover NHL Winter Classic between the Utah Mammoth and Colorado Avalanche at Rice-Eccles St...
13/11/2026
Blackmagic Design has announced the Blackmagic Ambisonic Microphone, a 7th order ambisonic microphone array that captures spatial audio for immersive video prod...
13/11/2026
SMPTE has announced that The Studio B&H and Riedel Communications will provide the video infrastructure and communications technology for the Solutions Hub at t...
13/11/2026
The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) has announced the theme and program focus for the 2027 HPA Tech Retreat, which takes place Feb. 14-18, 2027, in La ...
13/11/2026
Football Manager 27 Touch is available on Apple Arcade starting today. The game ...
13/11/2026
MotoGP has announced a two-year media rights agreement with ESPN covering the Un...
13/11/2026
Apple Sports, the free iPhone app, has added the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) to its lineup of supported sports, in time for Saturday's UFC 334. The...
13/11/2026
The NBA and Fanatics Studios, the joint venture between Fanatics and entertainme...
13/11/2026
ESPN held its annual EDGE Innovation Conference last night and offered up an ove...
13/11/2026
Regional sports network gives Ithaca College, SUNY Cortland students a platform to thrive
One of the biggest games in Division III college football will be pla...
13/11/2026
Studer-inspired 500-series PWM compressor unveiled
The HLabs range already includes a couple of Studer-inspired offerings in the form of the PRE169 and EQ16...
13/11/2026
Download Now!
To view the white paper, please enter the following details:
--
First Name* First Name
Company*
Country* Please select your countryA...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Blue Lucy, the workflow orchestration and integration platform for broadcasters, rights owners and localisation companies, today announced an integration with c...
13/11/2026
Krotos announces Black Friday offers on Studio Pro and Studio Max
Brie Clayton November 12, 2026
0 Comments
First-year annual plans start at US$195.99...
13/11/2026
Blackmagic Design Announces Blackmagic Ambisonic Microphone
Brie Clayton November 12, 2026
0 Comments
New 7th order ambisonic microphone with 108 MEMS...
13/11/2026
Meet the Berklee Student Setting Planetary Motion to Music With his compositional platform SoniKosmos, Javier Roqueni aims to make the universe the ultimate i...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , er...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , er...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Amagi, the media industry cloud company, today announced a partnership with Golden Times Media Technology (stock code 920021.BJ), a Beijing-based media and tech...
13/11/2026
CGI (TSX: GIB.A) (NYSE: GIB), one of the largest independent IT and business consulting services firms in the world, together with its Malaysian partner, Cedar ...
13/11/2026
SMPTE, the home for media professionals, technologists and engineers, today announced that The Studio B&H and Riedel Communications will provide the video infra...
13/11/2026
iWedia, a global leader in connected TV software solutions, will present its software-first approach to DRAM optimization at Android TV APAC Summit 2026 in Bang...
13/11/2026
Beginning today, November 13, Apple HomeView is available for purchase at Apple Store locations, on the Apple Store online, and in the Apple Store app in select...
13/11/2026
From pediatric research to smart hospitals, AI is helping care teams spend less time on routine tasks and more time with patients.
Health systems and startups...
12/11/2026
Industry leaders examine how Dynamic Media Facility, Media eXchange Layer, and c...
12/11/2026
The junior Tar Heel is embracing the technical and creative challenges of live production while emerging as a leader and mentor in the control room...
12/11/2026
Gracenote, Nielsen's content intelligence business, has released its fifth a...
12/11/2026
RTL Deutschland will bring the NHL to free-to-air TV in Germany starting Nov. 30...
12/11/2026
Clear-Com supported On Air 2026, a 24-hour student-led broadcast connecting 45 u...
12/11/2026
uniqFEED has opened a Remote Operations Center (ROC) in Madrid, Spain. It is already operational, delivering virtual advertising for LaLiga matches. The ROC is ...
Ratings Roundup: Peyton, Eli Manning on Monday Night Football Doubles Audience; More NFL, College Football Number By SVG Staff 
