MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL Delivers Nightly Win for ESPN

Last night's Monday Night Football telecast - a New York Giants' 23-7 victory over the Minnesota Vikings - helped ESPN win the night among all networks - broadcast or cable - in all key male and adult demos. The MNF game ranked as the top telecast of the night across cable and broadcast in those same categories.

The Vikings-Giants telecast earned a 8.4 US rating, representing an average of 9,711,000 households and 13,243,000 viewers (P2+), according to Nielsen. Coverage peaked from 9:45-10 p.m. with a 9.7 US rating.

In Minneapolis, the game delivered a 12.3 rating on ESPN and a 38.0 on WCCO-CBS, for a combined 50.3 rating in the market. In New York, the game delivered a 10.1 rating on ESPN and a 5.6 on WPIX-CW, for a combined 15.7 rating in the market.

The top 10 metered markets (in addition to the markets of the competing teams) were New Orleans (16.6), Las Vegas (14.2), Tampa-St. Petersburg (14.1), Kansas City (13.8), Richmond-Petersburg, Va. (13.6), Norfolk (13.0), Washington, D.C. (13.0), Sacramento (12.7), San Diego (12.6), and Seattle-Tacoma (11.9).

Through seven weeks (eight games), ESPN's MNF is averaging an 8.5 US rating, 9,802,000 households and 13,347,000 viewers in 2013, virtually flat Versus the same period in 2012.