ESPN drew a 7.1 overnight for the Ravens’ 34-27 win over the Saints last night from 8:15-11:45pm ET, marking the net’s lowest-rated “MNF” telecast of the ’14 season to date. Ravens-Saints had competition early on in a few markets (as well as on DirecTV’s NFL Sunday Ticket) from the Jets-Bills game, which had to be moved to Monday due to inclement weather. Last night’s "MNF" game is down 22% from a 9.1 for 49ers-Redskins in Week 12 last year. Another factor affecting the “MNF” rating was news coverage on major media outlets around the grand jury decision and subsequent protests in Ferguson, Mo. CNN, Fox News, MSNBC and CNBC combined for a 9.0 overnight during "MNF," more than 3.5 times larger than what those nets delivered in the same time period last Monday. In the St. Louis market specifically, "MNF" drew a 2.4 local rating last night. Season-to-date, St. Louis has averaged about a 6.5 local rating for "MNF." Ravens-Saints drew a 43.6 local rating in New Orleans (15.6 on ESPN, 28.0 on WDSU-ABC) and a 35.2 in Baltimore (11.7 on ESPN, 23.5 on WBAL-NBC). Meanwhile, CBS aired Jets-Bills from 7:00-10:00pm in the N.Y. and Buffalo markets, as well as in all New York state markets and Erie, Pa., which account for 8.6% of U.S. TV markets. The game earned a 37.8 in Buffalo and a 7.4 in N.Y. (Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor).
SUNDAY ACTION: In Dallas, Barry Horn noted “about 1.02 million homes locally were tuned into” KXAS-NBC for the Cowboys’ game-winning drive against the Giants on “SNF.” That “represents approximately” 39.2% of all homes with TVs in Dallas-Ft. Worth (DALLASNEWS.com, 11/24). Meanwhile, in Seattle, Bob Condotta noted the Cardinals-Seahawks game on KCPQ-Fox drew a 40.5 local rating in the Seattle-Tacoma market (SEATTLETIMES.com, 11/24).
