Atlanta Falcons vs New Orleans Saints: Most-Watched Cable Telecast of the Year

The Atlanta Falcons had an ugly loss to the New Orleans Saints, but that didn’t affect the television audience. The Falcons-Saints game was not only the most-watched cable broadcast of the year, but it was the third-most watched broadcast of all time.

I don’t feel like beating what the Falcons have done this year like a dead horse and saying the same things over and over. So I am taking some different approaches to these articles during the middle of the week. I hope you like them. I still think that they are still very entertaining and informative to say the least.

Now, according to ESPN this has been one of the most successful seasons of Monday Night Football ever. They have averaged nearly 15 million viewers per game. No game drew a higher national audience than the Falcons-Saints game on Monday night.

According to Zap2it.com, it was the highest rated  football game in the history of Atlanta. Nearly half of all televisions that were on Monday night were tuned into the Falcons-Saints game.

But this game wasn’t just big locally, but nationally as well.

The game drew 19.1 million viewers nationally. This was the biggest cable audience of the year. I knew this game was big, but I didn’t realize that it was that big.

Keep in mind that “cable telecast” doesn’t count broadcasts on stations like FOX, CBS, ABC, and other stations like those ones. But that shouldn’t take anything away from these numbers.

This game also drew enough viewers to be the third most watched cable telecast of all time. That is right of all time. Again, I didn’t expect these kind of numbers.

An interesting note, nine of the top 10 cable broadcasts are NFL games. The only one that wasn’t was on the Disney Channel and their airing of “High School Musical 2.”

This was a huge game, but just imagine the ratings when the games actually matter. What would the ratings be like if there is an Act III. The Falcons play host to the Saints with a win-or-go-home type feeling. Millions and millions of people would watch and the Georgia Dome will be rocking.

But then what if the Falcons advance to the NFC Championship and the play the Philadelphia Eagles. Mike Vick returns to the city which he left in shambles with a Super Bowl on the line. I am getting chills just thinking about it.

One thing is for sure, the Falcons have the opportunity to do something special. The games and atmosphere of the games the Falcons are about to play should give Falcons fans excitement. I know I am excited just thinking about it.

Information used on this report via ajc.com