Viewers "weren't wild" about last weekend's four NFL
wild card playoff games on ABC, CBS and Fox, as the coverage
combined for a 17.8 overnight Nielsen average, down 13% from
last year's 20.4, according to USA TODAY's Rudy Martzke.
Pilson Communications President Neal Pilson: "The quality of
games, weather and size of markets helps determine the
ratings. This year two of the four games weren't
competitive, there was good weather in the East that didn't
keep people indoors and teams were from smaller markets."
Media buyer Paul Schulman: "I don't think smaller markets
were as much of a factor as a couple of games not being
competitive" (USA TODAY, 1/11). In Boston, Jim Baker writes
that while NFL ratings are "healthy," most of the playoff
numbers "declined." Baker adds that "there's no Northeast
or West Coast team left" (BOSTON HERALD, 1/11). In
Milwaukee, Bob Wolfley notes the ratings drop and writes,
"It's not clear that parity is good for TV ratings"
(MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL, 1/11). Fox Sports Dir of Media
Relations Dan Bell, on Fox earning a 20.2/42 overnight
rating for its Cowboys-Vikings game: "Any time you can get a
20-plus rating in the middle of a Sunday afternoon, we'll
take it. It's an unbelievable number" (BLOOMBERG, 1/10). In
Dallas, Barry Horn reports the Cowboys-Vikings game earned a
43.5/71 local rating. In Minneapolis-St.Paul, the game
earned a 42.6/76 local rating (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 1/11).
SAY HELLO TO YOUR RAMS! ESPN's Robin Roberts noted that
"the Rams playoff game Sunday against the Vikings will be
the first time all season the team has been featured in a
nationally televised game" ("SportsCenter," ESPN, 1/10).
