MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL's Bears-Packers Game Delivers Nightly Win for ESPN

Last night's Monday Night Football telecast - a Chicago Bears' 27-20 road victory over the NFC North rival Green Bay Packers - helped ESPN win the night among all networks - broadcast or cable - among viewers, households and all key male and adult demos. The MNF game also ranked as the top telecast of the night across cable and broadcast in those same categories.

The Bears-Packers telecast earned a 10.1 US rating, representing an average of 11,639,000 households and 16,102,000 viewers (P2+), according to Nielsen. The 10.1 rating ties the Eagles-Redskins season-opener (Sept. 9) as ESPN's highest-rated MNF telecast of the 2013 season. Coverage peaked from 9:45-10 p.m. ET with an 11.1 US rating.

In Chicago, the game delivered a 20.3 rating on ESPN and a 13.7 on WCIU-IND, for a combined 34.0 rating in the market. In Milwaukee, the game delivered a 13.9 rating on ESPN and a 36.4 on WISN-ABC, for a combined 50.3 rating in the market.

The top 10 metered markets (in addition to the markets of the competing teams) were New Orleans (18.2), Las Vegas (17.3), San Diego (14.9), Minneapolis-St. Paul (14.5), Indianapolis (14.4), Sacramento (13.9), Phoenix (13.8), Tampa-St. Pete (13.8), Denver (13.5) and Seattle-Tacoma (13.1).

Through nine weeks (10 games), ESPN's MNF is averaging an 8.5 US rating, 9,787,000 households and 13,362,000 viewers in 2013, slight increases in all categories over the same period in 2012.

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