ESPN barely avoided a record-low "MNF" overnight rating for the Colts' 41-10 win over the Jets. The telecast from 8:15-11:32pm ET drew a 6.0 overnight rating, which is still above the record-low 5.7 overnight that ESPN drew for Falcons-Saints on Sept. 27. That game was up against the highly-anticipated first Presidential debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. The 6.0 overnight is a record-low for ESPN in Week 13 since it acquired "MNF" rights prior to the '06 season. Colts-Jets also is down 40% from Cowboys-Redskins in Week 13 last year. Last night's telecast peaked at a 7.4 rating from 9:15-9:30pm and despite the sharp drop for the overall rating is still likely to deliver ESPN a primetime win across all broadcast and cable nets. The game drew a 30.4 local rating in Indianapolis (12.6 on ESPN, 17.8 on WRTV-ABC). The N.Y. market finished second with a 9.7 local rating (5.4 on ESPN, 4.3 on WABC-ABC). Rounding out the top five markets were Philadelphia (9.0), Norfolk (8.6) and Seattle-Tacoma (8.6) (Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor).
STILL BITTER? In St. Louis, Dan Caesar notes the Rams "performed only slightly better in the television ratings Sunday" in L.A than they did in the market "they abandoned," as their 26-10 loss to the Patriots drew a 9.7 in the L.A. market compared to an 8.4 in St. Louis. The St. Louis rating "figured to have been higher if Fox hadn't pulled local affiliate" KTVI out of the last half hour of the game to "show the conclusion of the more competitive" Lions-Saints contest. The 9.7 figure in L.A. "helped the Rams finish atop the NFL ratings for the day in that market for the first time after they finished behind two other games in each of the previous two Sundays." The game marked the "best the team has done in its new home in its most recent six games." But it was the 10th consecutive contest the Rams "failed to even equal the worst St. Louis rating they had in their 21 seasons in the market" (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 12/6). Meanwhile, Rams-Pats drew a 31.5 local rating in Boston, occupying the top spot in the weekly TV ratings for the market. The Pats have taken the top spot in the ratings for all 12 of their regular-season broadcasts (Patriots).
