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The 2024 season opener for “Monday Night Football” averaged 20.5 million viewers across ESPN, ABC, ESPN2, ESPN+, ESPN Deportes and NFL+.
The San Francisco 49ers’ win against the New York Jets marked the program’s second-most-watched Week 1 match-up in the program’s 19 seasons on ESPN, beating the 19.8 million viewers who tuned in to watch the 2022 match-up between the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks.
Still, viewership for the Sept. 9 game came in lower than last year’s face-off between the Buffalo Bills and the Jets, which holds the record for the most-watched Week 1 game at 22.7 million viewers. The slight ratings dip coincides with DirecTV’s more than 11 million subscribers currently being unable to access Disney’s linear networks due to a carriage dispute.
The blackout, which began on Sept. 1 moments before the USC vs. LSU game, has also disrupted the U.S. Open. Negotiations continue as ABC gears up for the first presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump on Tuesday evening.
Disney and DirecTV both rejected proposals that would’ve allowed the satellite TV giant’s subscribers to view the debate on ABC, though it will still be available to watch on Hulu and Disney+ and free to stream on ABC News Live and over the air.
Additionally, it will be simulcast on other broadcast and cable news networks.
The three most-watched “Monday Night Football” Week 1 games in the ESPN era all featured Joe Buck, Troy Aikman and Lisa Salters on the mic, with Laura Rutledge joining the trio for the 2024 season on site in San Francisco.
Leading into the game, “Monday Night Countdown” averaged 1.3 million viewers, as Ryan Clark, Jason Kelce and Marcus Spears joined Scott Van Pelt for the crew’s first on-site show together. Adam Schefter also appeared on the programming from Levi’s Stadium.
Accounting for all weeks, the Jets-49ers is the sixth-most-watched “Monday Night Football” game in the ESPN era, with four of the preceding five occurring during the 2023 season.
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