ESPN earned a 2.9 U.S. rating and 4.6 million viewers for the Heisman Trophy presentation last Saturday night, which saw Baylor QB Robert Griffin III win the school’s first-ever Heisman. Those figures are up 26% and 22%, respectively, from last year’s ceremony that saw Auburn QB Cam Newton win the award in a runaway. However, they are down 17% and 23% from Alabama RB Mark Ingram's narrow win in ’09. Following the presentation, ESPN premiered a college football documentary for the third year in a row. “The Marinovich Project” earned a 1.4 rating and 2.1 million viewers, down 13% and 15%, respectively, from a 1.6 rating and 2.5 million viewers for the premiere of “Pony Excess,” and down 13% and 10% from the premiere of “The U” in ’09.
| HEISMAN TROPHY CEREMONY TREND ON ESPN |
| YEAR | RATING | VIEWERS (000) | WINNER |
| '11 | 2.9 | 4,603 | Baylor QB Robert Griffin III |
| '10 | 2.3 | 3,784 | Auburn QB Cam Newton |
| '09 | 3.5 | 5,990 | Alabama RB Mark Ingram |
| '08 | 2.7 | 4,151 | Oklahoma QB Sam Bradford |
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PREGAMING: ESPN’s “College GameDay” averaged a 1.5 rating and 2.1 million viewers during the college football regular season, flat compared to last year. The program had its best audience of the season (2.4 million viewers) for its first-ever telecast from the Stanford Univ. campus prior to the Oregon game on Nov. 12.
The chart below lists final Nielsen ratings from recent sports telecasts. All ratings listed are U.S. ratings.
| TELECAST | DATE | NET | TIME (ET) | RAT. | VIEWERS (000) |
"Sunday Night Football":
Giants-Cowboys | 12/11 | NBC | 8:31-11:54pm | 14.9 | 24,516 |
| "NFL on Fox": (single) | 12/11 | Fox | 1:03-4:24pm | 13.6 | 22,207 |
| "NFL on CBS": Raiders-Packers (95%) | 12/11 | CBS | 4:15-7:38pm | 12.7 | 20,789 |
| "NFL on CBS": (regional) | 12/11 | CBS | 1:03-4:10pm | 9.3 | 14,535 |
| "Football Night in America" | 12/11 | NBC | 7:30-8:15pm | 6.4 | 10,551 |
| NCAA Football: Navy-Army | 12/10 | CBS | 2:39-6:09pm | 3.7 | 5,501 |
| "Fox NFL Sunday" | 12/11 | Fox | 12:00-1:00pm | 3.0 | n/a |
| "The NFL Today" | 12/11 | CBS | 12:00-1:00pm | 2.7 | n/a |
Mexico Soccer:
Tigres UANL-Santos Laguna | 12/11 | Telem | 6:55-9:14pm | 1.0 | 2,304 |
| NCAA Basketball: Duke-Washington | 12/10 | CBS | 12:00-2:27pm | 1.3 | 1,712 |
| Ironman World Championship (taped) | 12/10 | NBC | 4:30-6:00pm | 0.9 | 1,353 |
| ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating (taped) | 12/11 | NBC | 12:00-2:00pm | 0.9 | 1,145 |
Golf: Franklin Templeton Shootout:
Final Round | 12/11 | NBC | 3:00-6:00pm | 0.8 | 1,114 |
| Golf: Franklin Templeton Shootout: Second Round | 12/10 | NBC | 2:30-4:30pm | 0.7 | 1,006 |
| "ESPN Sports Saturday" | 12/10 | ABC | 4:00-6:00pm | 0.7 | n/a |
| "ESPN All America Team Show" | 12/10 | ABC | 1:30-2:30pm | 0.6 | n/a |
| World of Adventure Sports (taped) | 12/11 | NBC | 2:00-3:00pm | 0.6 | 772 |
| TELECAST | DATE | NET | TIME (ET) | RAT. | VIEWERS (000) |
"Monday Night Football":
Chargers-Jaguars | 12/5 | ESPN | 8:30-11:35pm | 6.1 | 9,466 |
"Thursday Night Football":
Browns-Steelers | 12/8 | NFLN | 8:29-11:31pm | 4.0 | 6,578 |
| Heisman Trophy Ceremony | 12/10 | ESPN | 8:00-9:02pm | 2.9 | 4,603 |
| NCAA Basketball: Kentucky-Indiana | 12/10 | ESPN | 5:24-7:34pm | 2.3 | 3,585 |
| "Thursday Night Football Pre-Kick" | 12/8 | NFLN | 8:00-8:29pm | 2.0 | 3,305 |
| "Monday Night Countdown" | 12/5 | ESPN | 7:00-8:30pm | 2.0 | 2,781 |
| NCAA Basketball: Ohio State-Kansas | 12/10 | ESPN | 3:17-5:24pm | 1.5 | 2,202 |
| "Sunday NFL Countdown" | 12/11 | ESPN | 10:00am-1:00pm | 1.6 | 2,164 |
| "The Marinovich Project" | 12/10 | ESPN | 9:02-10:32pm | 1.4 | 2,131 |
FCS Playoffs: Quarterfinals:
Sam Houston State-Montana State | 12/10 | ESPN | 12:00-3:17pm | 1.1 | 1,544 |
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CORRECTION: Thursday's issue of THE DAILY should have listed ESPN’s Saturday college football primetime window viewership as down 16%, not 48%. THE DAILY regrets the error.
