It’s more difficult than ever to scrutinize rotation and smoke when it comes to viewership numbers. ESPN and ABC had plenty of extra fodder to spin and smoke on Monday night, with two heads overlapping.
Below are the initial raw numbers. Titans-Bills on ESPN averaged 7.9 million viewers on ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPN Deportes. Vikings-Eagles averaged 12.9 million viewers on ABC and ESPN. Neither number was all that massive, which likely has something to do with the fact that neither game was compelling.
Disney’s PR doctors rounded up a higher number in terms of total viewership during the overlapping two games that are inherently frustrating (for many). The two games played simultaneously achieved an average audience of 20.6 million on all networks. This exceeds the audience average for the entire Week One Broncos-Seahawks game.
ought to. It was two games. Four fan rules. During the overlap period, the game played on the larger network (Vikings-Eagles) had not yet been decided.
The question is whether two back-to-back games can perform better, especially with the six-hour ManningCast Marathon to go along with back-to-back matches. Maybe ESPN and ABC (working with the NFL) should try that next year.
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