Tiger Woods Return to Golf Draws Record Audience for Golf Channel February 27, 2009 1:41 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Golf Channel, News, Nielsen TV Ratings, Sports, Television.Tags: Cable TV Ratings, Golf, PGA, Tiger Woods
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Tiger Woods fans weren’t the only ones happy about the return of the golfer after a lengthy off-season due to injury/surgery. The golfer’s return to competition on Wednesday at the Accenture Match Play Championship generated a 1.8 rating for the Golf Channel. The network drew an average of 1.7 million viewers, the most for any round of a tournament it has televised.
Web traffic was high as well, with GolfChannel.com recording a record 3.3 million page views and PGATour.com nearly 24 million page views.
Source: NY Times
Rose Bowl Up 10%, FOX BCS Games Up 13% (12% Overall) January 9, 2009 5:16 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in BCS National Championship Game, Broadcast TV Ratings, College Football, Nielsen TV Ratings, Sports, Television.add a comment
With the College Football season, and therefore Bowl season, over, it’s time to take a quick look at how the ratings turned out for this year’s set of major games: Rose Bowl; Orange Bowl; Sugar Bowl; Fiesta Bowl and the National Championship.
Here’s how the respective telecast’s this year stack up to last season (numbers in parenthesis for the 2009 numbers indicate the change from the year prior–red represents a decrease, green represents an increase):
Rose Bowl (ABC)
- 2009: Penn State vs. USC – 1/1/2009
- Households – 11.7/21 (+6%)
- Viewers – 20.60M (+10%/+1.85M)
- Adults 18-49 – 6.5/20 (+3%)
- 2008: Illinois vs. USC – 1/1/2008
- Households – 11.0/19
- Viewers – 18.75M
- Adults 18-49 – 6.3/18
Orange Bowl (FOX)
- 2009: Cincinnatti vs. Virginia Tech – 1/1/2009
- Households – 5.4/9 (-27%)
- Viewers – 9.32M (-22%/-2.64M)
- Adults 18-49 – 3.0/8 (-30%)
- 2008: Kansas vs. Virginia Tech – 1/3/2008
- Households – 7.4/12
- Viewers – 11.96M
- Adults 18-49 – 4.3/12
Sugar Bowl (FOX)
- 2009: Alabama vs. Utah – 1/2/2009
- Households – 7.8/13 (+11%)
- Viewers – 13.37M (+14%/+1.67M)
- Adults 18-49 – 4.3/12 (-9%)
- 2008: Hawaii vs. Georgia – 1/1/2008
- Households – 7.0/12
- Viewers – 11.70M
- Adults 18-49 – 4.7/12
Fiesta Bowl (FOX)
- 2009: Texas vs. Ohio State – 1/5/2009
- Households – 10.4/17 (+35%)
- Viewers – 17.06M (+40%/+4.90M)
- Adults 18-49 – 6.0/16 (+36%)
- 2008: West Virginia vs. Oklahoma – 1/2/2008
- Households – 7.7/13
- Viewers – 12.16M
- Adults 18-49 – 4.4/12
BCS National Championship (FOX)
- 2009: Florida vs. Oklahoma – 1/8/2009
- Households – 15.8/25 (+10%)
- Viewers – 26.77M (+16%/+3.70M)
- Adults 18-49 – 9.5/25 (+16%)
- 2008: LSU vs. Ohio State – 1/7/2008
- Households – 14.4/22
- Viewers – 23.07M
- Adults 18-49 – 8.2/21
Overall, the four BCS games on Fox and the Rose Bowl on ABC averaged the following numbers this year: 10.2/17 HH rating/share, 17.42M viewers, 5.9/16 A18-49 rating/share. In 2008, the same five games averaged the following numbers: 9.5/16 HH rating/share, 15.53M viewers, 5.6/15 A18-49 rating/share. That represents a change of 8% among households, 12%/1.90M among viewers and 5% among adults 18-49.
If you’re interested in separating out the Rose Bowl from the four BCS bowls, here’s the average, and comparison, of the four FOX BCS games:
- Households – 9.1/15 to 9.9/15 (+9%)
- Viewers – 14.72M to 16.60M (+13%/+1.88M)
- Adults 18-49 – 5.4/14 to 5.7/15 (+6%)
As you can see, despite the weak performance of this year’s Orange Bowl and the slight decrease among adults 18-49 for the Sugar Bowl, FOX still saw a solid increase in viewership over the year prior.
While I wish we could get a playoff system in college football, the sport remains very strong, as is evidenced by the ratings above. Then again, it’s hard to imagine interest wouldn’t grow even more if there was a playoff system. Is there really anyone out there that wouldn’t want to see a matchup between the Gators and Trojans (or even Utah, who afterall did go undefeated)?
Giants/Cowboys Matchup Most Watched Game in SNF History December 16, 2008 6:25 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in NBC, NBC Sunday Night Football, NFL, Nielsen TV Ratings, Sports, Television.2 comments
23.1 million viewers tuned in to watch the Dallas Cowboys defeat the Super Bowl champion New York Giants 20-8 on NBC Sunday Night Football this past Sunday. That’s the most viewers ever for a ‘Sunday Night Football’ game and the third-most viewers in primetime this season, behind only the November 16th telecast of 60 Minutes that featured President-elect Barack Obama (25.1 million) and the October 9th season premiere of CSI (23.5 million).
Sunday Night Football is currently averaging 16.8 million viewers over 14 broadcasts. That’s a five percent gain over last season’s average of 16.1 million.
The full press release follows after the jump.
2008 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony in Beijing Draws Record 34.2 Million Viewers August 10, 2008 12:09 am
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics, NBC, Sports, Television.add a comment
NBC’s coverage of the 2008 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony in Beijing was the most-watched ever for a non-U.S. Summer Olympic Opening ceremony, averaging an 18.6/33 national rating/share and 34.2 million viewers. Also, a record 69.9M viewers tuned into at least some portion of the ceremony. Traffic to the official site NBCOlympics.com is also off to a record start, with the site logging 70 million page views on 8/8/2008, an increase of 900 percent or 10 times more than the opening day of the Athens Games in 2004 (7 million). And since August 1, 2008, the site has logged more than 127 million page views, nearly half the TOTAL for the entire Athens Games.
The full press release follows after the jump. (more…)
The Best Baseball-themed Movies of All Time July 15, 2008 8:46 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Baseball, Movies, Sports.add a comment
Over the years, Hollywood has churned out several baseball-themed movies, many of them very good. In celebration of tonight’s All-Star game at Yankee Stadium, Time.com’s Movie critic, Richard Corliss put together a video slideshow of what he believes are the best baseball movies of all time. Tonight also marks the first time that an All-Star Game has been played in a stadium’s final year (a new facility is slated to open next season in New York). With that fact in mind, what better a time to check out the reel? Click here to check out the feature.
Dan Patrick joining Football Night in America + Inside the NFL Panel Announced July 9, 2008 6:16 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Casting, Football Night in America, Inside the NFL, NBC, News, NFL, Showtime, Sports, Television.2 comments
Former ESPN colleagues Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann are reuniting. NBC has announced that Patrick, who was a former ESPN anchor and radio personality, is joining Football Night in America this fall to co-host the program. “I’m delighted to be reunited with my tag team partner,” Olbermann said, and in an homage to a favorite SportsCenter catchphrase, “I can’t stop Dan Patrick from working with me again, I can only hope to contain him.”
In other NFL-related TV news, James Brown, Phil Simms and Cris Collinsworth were named as cohosts of Inside the NFL, which is moving to showtime after a long run on HBO.
Source: TV Guide
Complete Ratings for the 2008 NBA Finals June 29, 2008 2:54 am
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in 2008 NBA Finals, Basketball, Broadcast TV Ratings, NBA Finals, News, Nielsen TV Ratings, Sports, Television.3 comments
Last year when the the NBA Finals were experiencing a significant year-to-year decline, I put together a complete analysis of the game by game and year-to-year numbers (read it here). Considering just how much stronger the series rated this year compared to last, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at the ratings for the 2008 NBA Finals. So keep on reading for a full on look at the ratings from game 1 through game 6. Needless to say (as you can see from the graph tease above), there was a major improvement.
NBC and Notre Dame Renew Sports Pact June 23, 2008 3:41 am
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in College Football, NBC, News, Sports, Television.add a comment
The University of Notre Dame and NBC Sports have signed a new five-year agreement which will keep Fighting Irish football games on NBC through 2015. Though terms were not disclosed, the previous five-year deal with Notre Dame cost NBC $45 million. With the new deal in place, it brings relationship between the network and college to 25 years, going back to 1991. Quite telling that NBC was so committed to renewing their deal, despite the fact that Notre Dame is coming off their worst record ever (3-9) in 2007. The full press release follows after the jump.
MyNetworkTV Grabs “WWE Smackdown” off The CW’s Hands February 26, 2008 5:03 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in myNetworkTV, News, Sports, Television, Wrestling, WWE Smackdown.7 comments
MyNetworkTV and World Wrestling Entertainment has announced a new home for WWE Smackdown. The series will debut on MyNetworkTV this coming fall.
The CW Dropping “WWE Smackdown” February 8, 2008 4:33 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in News, Sports, Television, The CW, Wrestling, WWE Smackdown.6 comments
The CW will stop carrying WWE Smackdown at the end of the 2007-2008 season, World Wrestling Entertainment said Thursday.
Jones/Trinidad Fight Earns Respectable 500,000 Buys January 25, 2008 11:02 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Boxing, HBO, HBO PPV, News, PPV, Sports, Television.add a comment
Last Saturday’s light heavyweight boxing fight between Roy Jones Jr. and Felix Trinidad at Madison Square Garden drew a surprisingly strong 500,000 pay-per-view buys.
NFL Network and CBS, NBC Partner for Giants/Patriots Matchup December 27, 2007 12:35 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Cable TV, CBS, Football, NBC, News, NFL, NFL Network, Sports, Television.3 comments
NFL fans who don’t have NFL Network need not worry about missing out on this coming Saturday’s Giants vs. Patriots matchup, as the NFL has announced that the game will be given a three-network telecast. The game will be shown on CBS and NBC, in addition to its normal broadcast on NFL Network.
NFL Makes Changes to Draft Rules October 23, 2007 7:30 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Football, News, NFL, NFL Draft, Sports, Television.add a comment
The NFL has made a few changes to the Draft, cutting the time between picks in the first and second rounds from 15 minutes to 10 minutes.
ESPN To Launch ESPNews HD in 2008 October 12, 2007 3:38 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in ESPNEWS, ESPNews HD, High-Definition, News, Sports, Television.2 comments
ESPN has announced that they’re adding another high-definition channel to their lineup. ESPNews HD will be launching March 2008.
ESPN Grabs Rights to First Two Rounds of Masters October 10, 2007 2:59 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Cable TV, ESPN, Golf, News, Sports, Television.add a comment
ESPN has secured exclusive rights to broadcast the first two rounds of Golf’s The Masters Tournament beginning April 2008.
Dish Joins DirecTV in Offering Big Ten Network September 7, 2007 5:20 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Big Ten Network, Cable, College Football, News, Sports.add a comment
Missing out on that amazing Michigan/Appalachian State game last week may have pushed DISH to expediate their pick-up of the Big Ten Network. The satellite provider today announced that the station has been added to their lineup of networks.
10 WWE Wrestlers Suspended August 30, 2007 11:56 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in News, Sports, Wrestling, WWE.8 comments
World Wrestling Entertainment today announced that they’ve suspended 10 of their wrestlers for violating the WWE’s wellness policy (enacted in February, 2006), which tests for illegal substances and heart stress.
Faith Hill To Perform SNF Opening Theme August 30, 2007 11:45 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Football, NBC, News, NFL, NFL Sunday Night Football, Sports.add a comment
Faith Hill has been selected by NBC to perform the opening theme for the networks NBC Sunday Night Football, “Waiting All Day for Sunday Night”.
A special version of the song, “Waiting All Year for Opening Night” will air Thursday, September 9 with NBC’s first regular season Sunday Night Football broadcast of the year featuring the New York Giants at the Dallas Cowboys.
Big 10 Network Kicks Off Thursday, But Few Able to Watch August 29, 2007 2:57 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in College Football, DirecTV, News, Sports, Television, The Big 10 Network.add a comment
The new Big 10 Network will telecast its first game tomorrow (Thursday, August 30), but with only one major provider carrying the network (DirecTV), and no major cable operator signed up yet, many fans will not be able to watch coverage of their favorite college teams.
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