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
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
28/11/2025
WASHINGTON Federal Communications Commission has released a tentative agenda for the December Open Commission Meeting scheduled for Thursday, December 18, 2025 ...
28/11/2025
The Professional Fighters League is looking to super-serve fans of mixed martial...
28/11/2025
Fubo has released in beta on select Roku devices a new feature that lets users display up to four simultaneous streams at once....
28/11/2025
The WNBA playoffs and Week 4 of the NFL regular season highlight the list of live sports events airing on television this weekend....
28/11/2025
The 32nd class of honorees to the B+C Hall of Fame took to the stage at New York's Ziegfeld Ballroom on September 26 for a gala induction event. Click below...
28/11/2025
We hold in our hands the very last Next Text for Next TV, the weekly back-and-fo...
28/11/2025
DirecTV said it made a deal with EchoStar to buy EchoStar's video businesses, including satellite-TV provider Dish TV and virtual MVPD Sling TV, for $1 plus...
28/11/2025
The Broadcasting+Cable Hall of Fame, the premier industry event paying tribute to the influencers, innovators and shining lights of broadcast, cable and streami...
28/11/2025
Unwrapped: The Toy Show Appeal - airing this Sunday on RT One and RT Player- s...
27/11/2025
LONDON Vizrt has added several AI-driven advanced features offering improved speed, intelligence and accuracy in the newest version of its media asset managemen...
27/11/2025
Prime Video has launched AI-powered video season recaps in a beta version for select English-language Prime Original series in the U.S., a move Amazon is callin...
27/11/2025
27 Nov 2025
GSMA brings M360 Eurasia 2026 to Samarkand in partnership with VEON...
27/11/2025
Tahar Rahim and Izuka Hoyle star in the gripping six-part Sky Original from Acad...
27/11/2025
Thursday 27 November 2025
Sky Arts Reveals the Nation's Greatest Basslines - and Queen Reign Supreme
The UK's most iconic basslines have been revealed...
27/11/2025
Back to All News
Stranger Things 5': Prepare for One Last Adventure With O...
27/11/2025
The media industry has a paradox at its core. It's an industry built on light, color and imagination, yet behind the scenes, it's powered by one of the ...
27/11/2025
Rating reflects rating progress across areas including policies, diversity & inclusion, health & safety and Net Zero leadership
Winchester, UK, 27 November 202...
27/11/2025
What are the industry standards for Retail Media? Kathryn explains that certification is based on the IAB Europe Retail Media Measurement Standards and the IAB ...
27/11/2025
World champion boxer and Irish sporting icon Katie Taylor will be in studio this...
27/11/2025
Roblox, one of the world's most popular online gaming platforms for primary ...
27/11/2025
Black Friday is leveling up. Get ready to score one of the biggest deals of the season - 50% off the first three months of a new GeForce NOW Ultimate membership...
26/11/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Prime Video EP Mike Muriano Previews Massive Black Friday Slate Fe...
26/11/2025
A cinematic snow sculpture at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival. Photo by Randall Michelson...
26/11/2025
Book podcasts are booming. On Spotify, you'll find everything from celebrity book clubs to deep dives with bestselling authors. And in markets where audiobo...
26/11/2025
Mumbai, November 24, 2025: In a first-of-its-kind initiative, JioStar, in collab...
26/11/2025
LONDON Factual content producer ITN Productions has launched a new low-latency IP gallery for news bulletins....
26/11/2025
MIAMI TelevisaUnivision said it struck a new multiyear distribution agreement with YouTube TV that includes distribution of TelevisaUnivision's U.S. network...
26/11/2025
OpenDrives, Inc., a leader in software-defined data storage and data services, today announced the launch of the Atlas Corporate Creative Solution. This new Atl...
26/11/2025
Disguise, the industry-leading company powering the world's biggest live performances, is partnering with pioneering LED wall manufacturer DVS to give atten...
26/11/2025
HighField AI, the pioneer in agentic and multimodal automation for broadcast and media production, today announced the expansion of its global channel partner n...
26/11/2025
As high-stakes Premier League fixtures approach and additional premium content launches, with MONO positioning themselves to dominate Thailand's sports stre...
26/11/2025
Hosting a wide variety of events from high-intensity NHL games to complex live music concerts and major entertainment productions, Montreal's 21,000 capacit...
26/11/2025
Vizrt, the leader in live production technology revolutionizing viewer engagement and experience, releases AI-driven advances focusing on speed, intelligence, a...
26/11/2025
ITN Productions, an award-winning factual content producer, today launched a new low-latency IP gallery for news bulletins. Responsible for delivering a leading...
26/11/2025
Ikegami reports ongoing advances throughout 2025 in developing and delivering coordinated television production solutions that maximize quality, versatility and...
26/11/2025
Following the Nov. 21 blackout of NBCUniversal channels on Fubo, the two sides have traded barbs about their inability to reach a new carriage deal....
26/11/2025
LONDON As TV sports rights become increasingly important for both broadcasters and streamers, Ampere Analysis predicts global investment in the genre will surpa...
26/11/2025
LOS ANGELES Vubiquity said it has achieved the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Media & Entertainment Competency as part of the AWS Partner Network (APN). This designa...
26/11/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission's Enforcement Bureau said it has entered into a consent decree with Comcast calling for the cable company t...
26/11/2025
Berklee Named to the Hollywood Reporters Top Music Schools List The publication highlights the college's screen scoring program, industry partnerships, and ...
26/11/2025
Back to All News
Animated Series Love Through a Prism' Casts New Light on ...
26/11/2025
Back to All News
NALIP Unveils Fifth Cohort of Director Incubator
Social Impact
26 November 2025
United States
Link copied to clipboard
The National Assoc...
26/11/2025
YouView Achieves Greenly Gold Certification for SustainabilityNov 26, 2025
YouView is proud to announce a Gold Certification award from Greenly for our perform...
26/11/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Deepens Partnership with Taiwan's 62nd Golden Hors...
25/11/2025
Tracy Bonareri Onchoke, an investigative journalist from Kenya is the winner of the Thomson Foundation's Young Journalist Award 2025.
The 26-year-old-sele...
25/11/2025
SVG All-Stars: Blayke Scheer, Senior Director, Creative Content, YES NetworkThe Indiana alum has turned storytelling into an artform for more than two decadesBy...
25/11/2025
Op-Ed: With FCC's C-Band Auction on the Horizon, Broadcasters Need Proven, C...
25/11/2025
Analysis: Is Baller League really the future of sport? By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Tuesday, November 25, 2025 - 10:10
Print This Story
With KSI on...
Ratings Roundup: Peyton, Eli Manning on Monday Night Football Doubles Audience; More NFL, College Football Number By SVG Staff 
