aired its first installment of the season without the “Manning-cast” on ESPN2, and as such the ESPN2 simulcast of the game was significantly smaller than the previous three weeks.
It still, however, dominated Monday’s ratings and posted year-to-year gains for the third time in four weeks. CBS’ NCIS and NBC’s The Voice, meanwhile, maintained their spots as the top two network shows in primetime.
The Los Angeles Chargers’ win over the Las Vegas Raiders drew 12.32 million viewers to ESPN. That’s down about 4.5 percent from the 12.9 million who watched the ESPN feed of last week’s Monday Night Football. ESPN2 averaged an additional 543,000 for a total of 12.86 million (last week ESPN2 had 1.89 million for the Manning-cast). The ESPN-only tally is up a sizable 42 percent, however, from last year’s week four game, which managed only 8.65 million viewers.
Through its first four games (and factoring out the second half of a season-opening doubleheader last year), MNF is up about 15 percent in viewers vs. 2020. All of the NFL’s other broadcast windows are currently up year to year as well.
On the broadcast networks, NCIS topped the total viewer chart with 7.96 million people watching — about 480,000 more than The Voice (a season high 7.48 million). The latter had the best 18-49 rating on the broadcast nets in primetime, matching last week’s 0.96.
Fox’s 911 (0.85 in adults 18-49) and ABC’s Dancing With the Stars (0.72) also held steady in the key ad demographic, and CBS’ The Neighborhood (0.62) was within four hundredths of a point — which equates to about 52,000 people in that age range — of last week. The comedy also grew in total viewers to 5.52 million. The Good Doctor (0.42) inched up in the demo but lost some viewers (3.73 million vs. 3.99 million last week).
NCIS: Hawai’i (5.54 million viewers, 0.48 in 18-49) was likewise fairly steady for CBS, but Monday’s other first-year series suffered small declines. NBC’s Ordinary Joe (2.63 million viewers, 0.33 in 18-49) came down from 2.69 million and 0.36 last week. Fox’s The Big Leap (1.3 million, 0.23) slipped from 1.46 million and 0.25.
Outside of NFL-related programming, WWE Monday Night Raw on USA was the top cable show in adults 18-49 with a 0.52 rating over its three hours. It was up week to week in both the key ad demo and in total viewers (1.86 million). The Five drew the largest non-sports audience of the day on cable, averaging 3.46 million viewers on Fox News.
Bookmark THR.com/Ratings for more ratings news and numbers.
Oct. 5, 4:55 p.m. Updated with ratings for an ESPN2 simulcast of Monday Night Football.
Source: Hollywood
