"MNF's" Seahawks-Rams on ESPN Ranks as Top Telecast of the Night in Key Male Demos

Last night's Monday Night Football telecast - a Seattle Seahawks' 14-9 victory over the St. Louis Rams - ranked as the top telecast of the night across cable and broadcast in the key male demos. Also, ESPN won the night among all networks - broadcast or cable - among males 18-49.

The Seahawks-Rams telecast earned a 6.7 US rating, representing an average of 7,815,000 households and 10,762,000 viewers (P2+), according to Nielsen. Coverage peaked in the fourth quarter from 11:30-11:43 p.m. with an 8.2 US rating.

In Seattle-Tacoma, the game delivered a 17.0 rating on ESPN and a 19.4 on KONG-IND, for a combined 36.4 rating in the market. In St. Louis, the game delivered a 6.2 rating on ESPN and a 4.7 on KPLR-CW, for a combined 10.9 rating in the market. (Note: with the Cardinals hosting the Boston Red Sox in game 5 of the World Series last night in St. Louis, it was just the second time that the World Series and MNF were played in the same metropolitan area on the same night. The other was 1986: Red Sox at N.Y. Mets and Redskins at N.Y. Giants.)

The top 10 metered markets (in addition to the markets of the competing teams) were New Orleans (15.8), Portland, Ore. (12.9), Sacramento (12.5), Las Vegas (11.5), San Diego (10.3), Denver (10.0), Albuquerque-Santa Fe (9.3), San Francisco (9.3), Richmond-Petersburg (9.0) and Charlotte (8.9).

Through eight weeks (nine games), ESPN's MNF is averaging an 8.3 US rating, 9,585,000 households and 13,065,000 viewers in 2013, virtually flat versus the same period in 2012.

NFL on ESPN Digital Platforms

ESPN Digital Media's NFL content across all platforms - ESPN.com, mobile Web, apps and WatchESPN - through nine Monday Night Football games over eight days so far this season continue to log significant growth, generating an average minute audience of 555,000 during telecasts, an increase of 19 percent compared to the same time period last season. Specifically, last night's Seahawks vs. Rams game on WatchESPN logged 142,000 unique viewers, 10.1 million live minutes and an average minute audience of 52,000, up 98 percent, 148 percent and 133 percent respectively compared to a year ago. Season to date, MNF on WatchESPN is averaging 178,000 unique viewers (up 97 percent), 12.6 million live minutes (up 136 percent) and an average minute audience of 63,000 (up 135 percent) per game.

Additionally, season to date on Sundays, ESPN Digital Media's average minute audience across all platforms is 581,000, up 14 percent compared to the same time period the previous year. Other highlights:

· Mobile apps logged the largest growth on Sunday, with the ScoreCenter app generating an average minute audience of 149,000 (up 72 percent) and 7.8 million unique visitors (up 10 percent) while the ESPN Fantasy Football app logged an average minute audience of 192,000 (up 111 percent) and 4.2 million unique visitors (up 59 percent)

This Week on MNF

ESPN's MNF returns this week on November 4 with a NFC North matchup as Aaron Rodgers and the first-place Green Bay Packers (5-2) host Brandon Marshall and the rival Chicago Bears (5-3) at historic Lambeau Field at 8:30 p.m. ET. The MNF game is the only matchup on the NFL's week 9 schedule between teams with winning records.