‘Monday Night Football’ TV Ratings Plunge From 2019 in Opening Week Doubleheader

“Monday Night Football” continued the NFL’s tepid TV ratings start to its 2020 campaign, with both games of its annual opening week doubleheader dropping double-digits from last year.

The Pittsburgh Steelers’ win over the New York Giants drew 10.8 million viewers, down 17% from last year (which featured a thrilling come-from-behind victory by the New Orleans Saints over the Houston Texans). It was up from the same corresponding game (Lions-Jets) from 2018.

Even so, the game was still the biggest cable audience since Fox News’ coverage of Donald Trump’s State of the Union back in February.

*Also Read:* Ratings: Cowboys Can't Stop 'Sunday Night Football' Opener From Dropping Double Digits vs 2019

The late game between the Tennessee Titans and Denver Broncos fell 27% from last year’s late game (Raiders-Broncos) with 7.7 million viewers.

It’s been a slow start for the NFL this year, with the exception of Tom Brady’s debut with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday afternoon, which scored 25.9 million to be the most-watched of Week 1 — it was Fox’s best Week 1 match-up since 2016. NBC saw double-digit declines for both of its national games during the opening weekend.

The Los Angeles Rams’ SoFi Stadium unveiling on “Sunday Night Football” against the Dallas Cowboys was down 15% with just a hair under 19 million viewers, while the kickoff game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Houston Texans fell 12% from the 2019 season opener.

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