Arts & EntertainmentStar Wars

Monday Night Football’s ratings peaked before the Star Wars trailer aired

Benjamin SnyderBy Benjamin SnyderManaging Editor
Benjamin SnyderManaging Editor

Benjamin Snyder is Fortune's managing editor, leading operations for the newsroom.

Prior to rejoining Fortune, he was a managing editor at Business Insider and has worked as an editor for Bloomberg, LinkedIn and CNBC, covering leadership stories, sports business, careers and business news. He started his career as a breaking news reporter at Fortune in 2014.

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ANAHEIM, CA - APRIL 16: Stormtroopers onstage during Star Wars Celebration 2015 on April 16, 2015 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Disney)
Photograph by Alberto E. Rodriguez — Getty Images for Disney

ESPN’s Monday Night Football game featuring the Philadelphia Eagles’ 27-7 win over the New York Giants peaked just ahead of the latest trailer release for Lucasfilm’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Nielsen said that the programming earned a 9.6 overnight rating, with the peak coming at 9:45 to 10 p.m. with an 11.7 rating — 10 minutes before the third trailer dropped.

Overall ratings were higher than last week’s game, according to Deadline. The publication explained:

With a 9.6 rating in metered market results, last night’s MNF was up 13% over last week’s much tighter 24-20 win by the Pittsburgh Steelers over the San Diego Chargers. That’s the second-best result MNF has had in MM ratings this season. Only the October 5 matchup that saw the Seattle Seahawks beat the Detroit Lions 13-10 top it with a 9.9 MM result. And, highlighting the smart marketing move by Disney for both its sports cable giant and returning movie franchise, the MNF ratings peaked to 11.7 at 9:45-10 PM on Monday – right around the time the trailer was being shown.

The trailer for the film has already been watched over 10 million times on YouTube. Ticket pre-sales started after the trailer aired on ESPN, which is owned by Disney (DIS) and which also owns Lucasfilm. However, there were reports that some sites offered the tickets before the trailer’s release, while other sites crashed all-together.

The film is slated to be in theaters on Dec. 18.

You can watch the full trailer here:

As Fortune has previously reported, the new film is expected to rake in over $2 billion. Also, check out a profile of Sphero, the company behind the new BB-8 toy.