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ESPN Draws All-Time Low "MNF" Overnight Up Against Super Bowl-Level Debate Audience

ESPN last night drew a 5.7 overnight rating for the Falcons' 45-32 win over the Saints, likely marking the lowest-rated "MNF" telecast on record as the game went head-to-head with the first presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. The Packers-Chiefs "MNF" matchup in Week 3 last season drew an 8.9 overnight without much competition, while Bears-Jets in '14 drew a 9.2. Last night's game peaked at a 6.9 rating from 8:45-9:00pm ET, just as the debate was about to begin. New Orleans led all markets with a 38.3 local rating (12.5 on ESPN, 25.8 on WDSU-NBC). Atlanta drew a 14.1 local rating for the game, which aired solely on ESPN in the market. Local affiliate WSB-ABC carried the debate. Meanwhile, the Clinton-Trump debate drew a combined 46.2 overnight rating across the four broadcast TV networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox) and three cable news networks (CNN, MSNBC, Fox News). For comparison, Super Bowl 50 on CBS this year drew a 49.0 overnight for the Broncos-Panthers matchup, while NBC in '15 drew a 49.7 overnight for the Patriots-Seahawks Super Bowl. NBC led all broadcasters last night with an 11.1 overnight for its broadcast of the debate, followed by ABC with an 8.4. N.Y. led all markets for the debate with a 55.1 local rating. Fox Sports Senior VP/Programming & Research Mike Mulvihill tweeted the last time the N.Y. market scored such a high local rating was for Game 7 of the '86 Mets-Red Sox World Series (55.6 rating) (Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor).

FOLLOW THAT BIRD: USA TODAY's Mike Snider notes Twitter has "successfully" rolled out its "TNF" stream, but how much "teaming up with the NFL will help flush out new users is an open question." TV research firm The Diffusion Group analyst Joel Espelien said that through two "TNF" games, the partnership "looks like a clear win for the NFL and CBS." Butt the benefit to Twitter, "if any, is much less clear." Twitter's goal with the NFL deal is to "attract new users and perhaps some lapsed ones, intercept some advertising dollars and boost its cachet" (USA TODAY, 9/27). Patriots President Jonathan Kraft said of the Twitter partnership, "It's more about ... experimenting with things so that when we get to '21 and '22 when we have new television deals -- I don't think it will be called TV then, but streaming deals -- we'll have learned an awful lot about what consumers want and how to deliver it to them" (BOSTON GLOBE, 9/27).

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