ESPN Attracts 25.7M Viewers for Lions-Cowboys Game

(Image credit: ESPN)

ESPN is reporting that Monday Night Football delivered an audience higher than 25.6 million viewers for the second consecutive game and for the third game in the span of six weeks with the airing of the Detroit Lions at Dallas Cowboys Monday Night Football Special Edition on Saturday, Dec. 30.

The Lions-Cowboys audience of 25,663,0000 viewers (ESPN, ABC, ESPN2, ESPN+, and NFL+) joins Eagles-Chiefs (November 22) and Ravens-49ers (December 25) from this season as the three most-watched Monday Night Football games since 1997.

The large audiences also made the 2023 Monday Night Football season (20 games) officially the most-watched MNF season of the ESPN era (2006 – present), averaging 17.1 million viewers. The television franchise is up 33% year-over-year.

ESPN also reported that the Lions-Cowboys game averaged more than 27 million viewers during a significant portion of the second half (10:30 – 11:15 p.m. ET) and that it was up 92% from ESPN’s Monday Night Football Week 17 in 2021 (Browns-Steelers).

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George Winslow is the senior content producer for TV Tech. He has written about the television, media and technology industries for nearly 30 years for such publications as Broadcasting & Cable, Multichannel News and TV Tech. Over the years, he has edited a number of magazines, including Multichannel News International and World Screen, and moderated panels at such major industry events as NAB and MIP TV. He has published two books and dozens of encyclopedia articles on such subjects as the media, New York City history and economics.