ESPN is reporting that more than 17.7 million viewers tuned in to the most recent Monday Night Football matchup between the Denver Broncos and the Buffalo Bills, setting another weekly record for the prime-time sports media entity.
The contest concluded on a game-winning field goal by the Broncos after the Bills took a penalty for having too many players on the field at once.
This total cumulative audience peaked, however, towards the latter end of the first half at 19.8 million viewers. In the final full quarter hour of the game, 18.5 million viewers were watching the proceedings, a strong time slot that contributed to the game being the most-watched program on television and leading in all key demographics.
On the year, Monday Night Football is averaging 15.6 million fans per game, which is the best since ESPN began broadcasting the property in 2006 and up 16% year-over-year (YoY). Ten of the 12 Monday Night Football broadcasts, however, have been simulcast on The Walt Disney Company’s over-the-air broadcast network, ABC, a decision that was made in an effort to present new programming amid simultaneous strikes by writers and actors.
For six of those broadcasts, the alternate presentation – Monday Night Football with Peyton and Eli, colloquially known as the “Manningcast” – was live on ESPN2 and most recently drew an average of 1.12 million viewers. The metric marks the program’s 25th consecutive episode that contained more than 1 million viewers.
The property’s play-by-play announcer, Joe Buck, is celebrating his 20th season working alongside analyst Troy Aikman, a broadcast pairing that first began at FOX Sports and transitioned to ESPN prior to last season. Buck recently faced criticism from Bills fans about expressing that it was a “cold night in Buffalo” when, in reality, the game-time temperature was 49°F. On Tuesday night, he interacted with fans on social media and explained the importance of having an open-air broadcast booth.
“You cannot do a game in a closed booth,” Buck posted. “It sounds like you’re removed from the action. Our headset mics pick up a lot of the crowd noise you hear, so we need to be out in it. And I prefer to feel it and hear it that way too. In a closed booth your voice would bounce back at you and sound flat.”
Buck will be back on the call with Aikman for the next Monday Night Football matchup, which takes place from GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium when the Philadelphia Eagles face the Kansas City Chiefs on Nov. 20 at 8:15 PM ET.
