ESPN's rating for Giants-Falcons peaked at an 8.4 and is projected to win the night for the netGETTY IMAGES
ESPN drew a 7.5 overnight rating last night for the Falcons' 23-20 win over the Giants, marking the lowest Week 7 "MNF" rating since '12, when Lions-Bears drew a 7.3 up against an Giants-Cardinals NLCS Game 7. Last night's rating is down 5% from a 7.9 for Redskins-Eagles in Week 7 last year. Two years ago, Texans-Broncos drew a 7.8 overnight. Last night's game peaked twice at an 8.4 rating -- between 9:15-9:30 and 10:00-10:15pm ET -- and is projected to win the night among all nets. Atlanta led all markets with a combined 23.7 local rating (8.5 on ESPN, 15.2 on WSB-ABC), while N.Y. drew a 12.5 (7.3 on ESPN, 5.2 on WWOR-Ind.). New Orleans actually ended up outdrawing the Giants' home market with a 15.5 in the Big Easy. Norfolk (11.7) and K.C. (11.3) rounded out the top five. While the game was down, ESPN saw a 5% uptick for the postgame "SportsCenter" with Scott Van Pelt (2.3 rating) compared to the show in Week 7 last year (Josh Carpenter, THE DAILY).
NO PATRIOT PLACE: In Chicago, Phil Rosenthal noted the Patriots-Bears on WBBM-CBS on Sunday was only the team's "fourth-highest" local rating this season to date, despite the fact that the game came down to the final play. WBBM earned a 24.7 local rating, which is 9% lower than the Bears' OT loss to the Dolphins in Week 6 (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 10/23).
TRAIL BLAZERS: VARIETY's Brian Steinberg noted "never before in the history of NFL broadcasting has an all-female team called TV games," but Amazon's "TNF" team of Hannah Storm and Andrea Kremer "know they represent something different." Kremer said, "We are doing something new. Are we taking a risk? Absolutely." Storm said, "Someone had to be first. Our hope is other people will see it as maybe a path they would want to follow." Amazon "declined to offer statistics on how many people are tuning in to listen to Kremer and Storm" (VARIETY.com, 10/22).
