ESPN earned a 3.1 overnight Nielsen rating for Saturday night’s Heisman Trophy presentation, which saw Texas A&M QB Johnny Manziel become the first freshman to win the award. The 3.1 rating marks the second-best Heisman overnight on record (dating back to ’94), behind only Alabama RB Mark Ingram’s win in ’09 (3.6 overnight). This year’s telecast is also up 7% from a 2.9 overnight for Baylor QB Robert Griffin III’s win last year and up 29% from Auburn QB Cam Newton’s win in ’10. San Antonio led all markets with a 9.9 local rating for the Heisman telecast, followed by Birmingham (8.6) and K.C. (7.5).
FIVE FOR FIGHTING: "UFC on Fox 5" earned a 2.8 overnight Nielsen rating on Saturday night, marking the second-best overnight for the MMA outfit’s telecasts on Fox to date, behind a 3.5 for "UFC on Fox 1" in November '11. Saturday night’s telecast was up 65% from "UFC on Fox 4," which aired in August up against the London Games. "UFC on Fox 5" peaked at a 3.6 rating from 10:00-10:30pm ET for the main event between Benson Henderson and Nate Diaz. Las Vegas led all markets with a 6.3 local rating, followed by Louisville (5.0) and Sacramento (4.7)
BO KNOWS RATINGS: ESPN earned a 2.3 rating for its “30 for 30” documentary on Bo Jackson following the Heisman ceremony, marking the net's best overnight rating on record for a documentary, behind only "The Fab Five" from March '11. "You Don't Know Bo" was also up 44% from the doc on former USC QB Todd Marinovich following last year’s ceremony. The Jackson doc was up 28% from the “30 for 30” film on the SMU death penalty following the ’10 ceremony.
The chart below lists overnight Nielsen ratings from weekend sports telecasts on broadcast TV.
| TELECAST |
DATE
|
NET
|
TIME (ET)
|
RAT.
|
| "ESPN All America Team Show" |
12/8
|
ABC
|
3:00-4:00pm
|
0.6
|
| "ESPN Sports Saturday" |
12/8
|
ABC
|
4:00-6:00pm
|
0.7
|
| NCAA Basketball: Arkansas-Michigan |
12/8
|
CBS
|
12:30-2:30pm
|
0.9
|
| "College Football Today" |
12/8
|
CBS
|
2:30-3:00pm
|
1.2
|
| NCAA Football: Army-Navy |
12/8
|
CBS
|
3:00-7:00pm
|
4.1
|
| "UFC on Fox 5" |
12/8
|
Fox
|
8:00-10:30pm
|
2.8
|
| Red Bull Signature Series: Rampage |
12/8
|
NBC
|
2:00-4:00pm
|
0.5
|
| Golf: Franklin Templeton Shootout: Third Round |
12/8
|
NBC
|
4:00-6:00pm
|
0.7
|
| "The NFL Today" |
12/9
|
CBS
|
12:00-1:00pm
|
2.9
|
| "NFL on CBS": (single) |
12/9
|
CBS
|
1:00-4:05pm
|
11.3
|
| Deer Valley Celebrity Skifest |
12/9
|
CBS
|
5:00-6:00pm
|
1.1
|
| "Fox NFL Sunday" |
12/9
|
Fox
|
12:00-1:00pm
|
3.7
|
| "NFL on Fox": (regional) |
12/9
|
Fox
|
1:00-4:15pm
|
11.4
|
| "NFL on Fox": Saints-Giants (91%) |
12/9
|
Fox
|
4:15-7:30pm
|
17.0
|
| ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating |
12/9
|
NBC
|
1:00-3:00pm
|
0.7
|
| Golf: Franklin Templeton Shootout: Final Round |
12/9
|
NBC
|
3:00-6:00pm
|
0.6
|
| "Football Night in America" |
12/9
|
NBC
|
7:30-8:15pm
|
5.1
|
| "Sunday Night Football": Lions-Packers |
12/9
|
NBC
|
8:30-11:30pm
|
13.6
|
