In the world of American football, there is a debate brewing over the overlapping doubleheaders on Monday night. While most fans don’t particularly care for this scheduling format, it seems that Disney, the parent company of ESPN, has a different opinion. It appears that airing two games back-to-back on Monday nights actually results in higher ratings than just one game alone.
ESPN recently released some viewer statistics from the most recent doubleheader, featuring the Jaguars vs. Bills on ESPN and the Commanders vs. Bengals on ABC and ESPN+. The numbers revealed that the two games combined averaged “more than 19 million viewers” during the two-hour overlap. Interestingly enough, the Jaguars vs. Bills game was not exactly a nail-biter for most of the overlap period.
The Commanders vs. Bengals game, on the other hand, had an average of 13.2 million viewers. While the specific number for the full Jaguars vs. Bills game was not disclosed, it’s safe to assume that it may have fallen short of expectations.
The late game portion, which included the thrilling final 45 minutes from 10:15 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. ET, attracted an average of 15.2 million viewers. While this may seem like a solid number, some may see it as a disappointment for a major television network like ESPN.
Despite the lukewarm numbers, the question remains – why continue with the doubleheader format? One possibility is that it extends the overall viewing window for both games, totaling around four hours. However, some critics argue that the ratings may improve if just one game were televised across all three networks – ABC, ESPN, and ESPN2.
Then again, if last night’s sole game had been the Jaguars vs. Bills matchup, viewers may have lost interest and switched off their TVs before the final whistle. It seems that in the ever-evolving world of sports broadcasting, finding the perfect formula for maximizing viewership remains a constant challenge.
