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Final Ratings: Pro Bowl Strong, But Off From Recent Years; Winter X Games Down

NBC finished with a 7.1 rating and 12.2 million viewers for the NFL Pro Bowl last Sunday night, marking the least-viewed Pro Bowl since the event moved to the weekend before the Super Bowl. However, the audience was well above the figures for the game in the years leading up to the change in date. The game never drew above 10 million viewers from ’01-09. NBC’s telecast on Sunday finished as the fourth most-viewed primetime program on all of TV for the week ending Jan. 27, and was the most-viewed show on Sunday night.

NFL PRO BOWL AUDIENCE TREND
YEAR
NET
RATING
VIEWERS (000)
'13
NBC
7.1
12,156
'12
NBC
7.3
12,498
'11
Fox
7.7
13,406
'10
ESPN
7.1
12,297
'09
NBC
5.4
8,798
'08
Fox
6.3
9,971
'07
CBS
4.6
6,983
'06
ESPN
3.7
5,964
'05
ESPN
4.1
6,161
'04
ESPN
3.9
6,359
       

SNOW FALL: The Winter X Games averaged a 0.7 U.S. rating and 1.1 million viewers for nine telecasts across ABC and ESPN this year, down from a 0.8 rating and 1.3 million viewers for 11 telecasts across ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC last year. Sunday night’s finale on ESPN was the most-viewed of the telecasts this year, drawing a 1.1 rating and 1.9 million viewers from 9:15-11:15pm ET.

WINTER X GAMES VIEWERSHIP TREND
YEAR
NETWORKS
TELECASTS
AVG. VIEWERS (000)
'13
ESPN, ABC
9
1,079
'12
ESPN, ESPN2, ABC
11
1,280
'11
ESPN, ESPN2
8
998
'10
ESPN, ESPN2
8
1,188
'09
ESPN, ABC
11
1,398
'08
ESPN, ABC
11
1,336
'07
ESPN, ABC
9
1,135
'06
ESPN, ABC
9
1,304
'05
ESPN, ABC
7
1,001
'04
ESPN, ESPN2, ABC
8
825

SWING OF THINGS: Golf Channel had its best January ever in terms of total-day audience. The net averaged 105,000 viewers on a 24-hour basis, up 22% from last year. However, the net did see a slight decline in primetime, with its 167,000 viewers down 2% from 170,000 during the same period last year. Golf Channel benefitted from Tiger Woods’ performance at the PGA Tour Farmers Insurance Open last weekend. With Sunday’s coverage on CBS running late due to Saturday’s play being cancelled, Golf Channel picked up coverage at 7:00pm ET. The net then averaged 1.9 million viewers until 8:14pm, marking its best audience ever for “hand-off” of this type.

The charts below lists final Nielsen ratings from recent sports telecasts.

TELECAST
DATE
NET
TIME (ET)
RAT.
VIEWERS (000)
NFL Pro Bowl
1/27
NBC
7:31-10:35pm
7.1
12,156
NBA: Thunder-Lakers
1/27
ABC
4:10-6:14pm
3.9
6,330
PGA Tour: Farmers Insurance
Open: Third, Final Rounds*
1/27
CBS
3:00-7:00pm
3.2
n/a
NBA: Heat-Celtics
1/27
ABC
12:56-4:10pm
3.0
4,618
"UFC on Fox 6"
1/26
Fox
8:00-10:20pm
2.4
4,219
U.S. Figure Skating Championships
1/26
NBC
8:00-11:00pm
2.2
3,321
PGA Tour: Farmers Insurance
Open: Final Round*
1/28
CBS
4:00-6:00pm
1.7
n/a
NCAA Basketball:
Michigan State-Indiana
1/27
CBS
1:00-3:00pm
1.6
n/a
U.S. Figure Skating Championships
1/27
NBC
3:00-5:00pm
1.4
2,100
"Sunday Night Football Special"
1/27
NBC
5:00-6:00pm
1.2
2,000
U.S. Figure Skating Championships
1/26
NBC
3:00-6:00pm
1.4
1,900
PGA Tour: Farmers Insurance Open*
1/26
CBS
3:00-6:00pm
1.1
n/a
NCAA Basketball: Maryland-Duke
1/26
CBS
1:00-3:00pm
1.0
n/a
X Games
1/26
ABC
4:00-6:00pm
0.9
n/a
Int'l Auto Show
1/27
NBC
12:00-1:00pm
0.9
1,300
AMA Supercross
1/27
CBS
12:30-1:00pm
0.8
n/a
Figure Skating: Unforgettable
Moments of Love On Ice
1/27
NBC
1:00-3:00pm
0.8
1,100
Red Bull Signature Series:
Crashed Ice
1/26
NBC
2:00-3:00pm
0.6
889
TELECAST
DATE
NET
TIME (ET)
RAT.
VIEWERS (000)
NBA: Knicks-Celtics
1/24
TNT
8:01-10:38pm
1.7
2,465
NBA: Lakers-Bulls
1/21
TNT
9:44pm-12:12am
1.5
2,235
PGA Tour: Farmers Insurance
Open: Final Round*
1/27
Golf
7:00-8:14pm
1.2
1,942
Winter X Games
1/27
ESPN
9:15-11:15pm
1.1
1,891
PGA Tour: Farmers Insurance
Open: Third Round*
1/27
Golf
12:58-2:30pm
1.2
1,873
NCAA Basketball:
North Carolina-NC State
1/26
ESPN
7:00-9:07pm
1.1
1,789
NCAA Basketball:
Kentucky-Alabama
1/22
ESPN
9:01-11:09pm
1.0
1,595
NCAA Basketball: Duke-Miami
1/23
ESPN
7:00-9:08pm
1.1
1,580
NBA: Hawks-Knicks
1/27
ESPN
6:30-9:15pm
1.0
1,544
NCAA Basketball:
Michigan State-Wisconsin
1/22
ESPN
7:00-9:01pm
1.0
1,480
 

NOTES: * = Fog forced cancellation of Farmers Insurance Open third round on Saturday. Play resumed Sunday, with CBS carrying coverage until 7:00pm ET, and then handing off to Golf Channel. The final round concluded on Golf Channel and then CBS on Monday.

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