Fox was the winner from yesterday’s NFL action, as the net’s two windows were the only ones to see audience gains compared to similar coverage in Week 10 last year. Fox’ NFL national window yesterday drew a 15.6 overnight rating for coverage that featured Giants-Seahawks in 86% of markets. That figure is up 5% from a 14.8 overnight last year in Week 10, when CBS featured Broncos-Chargers in 91% of markets. Fox also earned a 10.0 overnight for its regional window earlier in the afternoon, up 2% from CBS’ comparable coverage last year. Meanwhile, CBS drew an 11.2 overnight for its singleheader coverage yesterday, down 9% from Fox in Week 10 in ’13. However, the 11.2 rating is tied for CBS’ best singleheader overnight of the ’14 season to date and beat out the 11.1 overnight earned by NBC’s “SNF” last night. NBC drew an 11.1 rating for the Packers’ 55-14 win over the Bears in primetime last night, which also saw the Packers run out to a 42-0 lead by halftime. That 11.1 rating is down 15% from a 13.0 for Cowboys-Saints last year. Despite the blowout, “SNF” still delivered NBC a win in primetime. Milwaukee drew a 49.2 local rating, while Chicago drew a 26.3 (Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor).
|
NFL WEEK 10 SUNDAY OVERNIGHT RATINGS
|
|
NET
|
'14 TELECAST
|
RAT.
|
'13 NET
|
'13 TELECAST
|
RAT.
|
% +/-
|
|
CBS
|
(single)
|
11.2
|
Fox
|
(single)
|
12.3
|
-8.9%
|
|
Fox
|
(regional)
|
10.0
|
CBS
|
(regional)
|
9.8
|
2.0%
|
|
Fox
|
Giants-Seahawks (86%)
|
15.6
|
CBS
|
Broncos-Chargers (91%)
|
14.8
|
5.4%
|
|
NBC
|
Bears-Steelers
|
11.1
|
NBC
|
Cowboys-Saints
|
13.0
|
-14.6%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
LOCKER ROOM LEAK: USA TODAY's Chris Strauss noted CBS cameras following yesterday's Titans-Ravens game aired a portion of Ravens coach John Harbaugh's "postgame locker room speech to the team, one in which he pointed out the Steelers’ surprising 20-13 loss" to the Jets. Harbaugh told his players, "That team beat us last week. Then they went and got their ass kicked this week." Harbaugh afterwards said that CBS "had betrayed a trust by airing his post-game locker room comments that were meant for his team only." Strauss wrote while the CBS crew "clearly made an error, the Ravens are only drawing more attention to Harbaugh’s comments by publicly complaining about them" (
USATODAY.com, 11/9). CBS Senior VP/Communications Jen Sabatelle noted the net "immediately pulled" the clip online and called the Ravens "to apologize" (
Baltimore SUN, 11/10).
SOMETHING LEFT TO BE DESIRED: In N.Y., Bob Raissman writes considering the amount of time CBS' Kevin Harlan and Rich Gannon "spent verbally genuflecting" on Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger during the team's loss to the Jets yesterday, it "would not be surprising if the two voices were still seated in CBS’ Meadowlands broadcast booth ... waiting for Big Ben ... to engineer a comeback." The performance of Jets QB Michael Vick "was a distant second" in the duo's analysis. Harlan and Gannon "were waiting for Roethlisberger to drop the hammer, anticipating he would definitely do so." They "were totally in sync with the expect-the-worst mentality of Jets fans who believed their team would find a way ... to lose" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 11/10). In Baltimore, David Zurawik noted yesterday's Titans-Ravens telecast on CBS featured the team of play-by-play broadcaster Andrew Catalon, "with two analysts, Steve Tasker and Steve Beuerlein." Zurawik: "I hoped with two analysts we’d get more insight into the game. I was wrong." There is "nothing egregiously wrong with" Tasker and Beuerlein, but there also is "nothing in particular to recommend them." They "totally failed viewers in the one big job of analysis that they had Sunday: To tell us how the Titans fell apart in the second half, and how the Ravens put some of their game back together" (BALTIMORESUN.com, 11/9).
COME ON, COACH: In Boston, Chad Finn writes under the header, "Listening To Mike Ditka Can Be Tough To Take." The ESPN analyst and Pro Football HOFer "is a proud relic of a more barbaric time, when the cure-all treatment for a broken bone was a fully-loaded needle and a tourniquet-tight Ace bandage and a concussion was 'getting your bell rung,' not a stage in the potential foreshadowing of a player’s premature death." Ditka on "Sunday NFL Countdown" yesterday "grunted the most trite and rudimentary response to the question" of whether Cowboys QB Tony Romo should have played against the Jaguars despite having two broken bones in his back. Ditka said, "It comes down to one thing: It’s his job. He’s the quarterback. If he’s well, he’s gonna play. He should play." Finn notes "even a cursory mention of the risk involved wasn’t something Ditka chose to address" (BOSTON GLOBE, 11/10).
NEW MATERIAL NEEDED: ESPN’s Chris Berman yesterday spoke on “Sunday NFL Countdown” about the possibility of an NFL team relocating to London. He speculated what the team’s nickname might be, saying, "We can call them the London Fog. We could call them the London Bridge. I like this one, we can call them the London Broil -- imagine that on the side of the helmet. Or the best one, the Werewolves of London. Until that time, Londoners will get used to adopting the 1-8 Jaguars." Those comments were almost verbatim to what he said last year on the same topic. During the Oct. 27, 2013, edition of "Countdown," Berman said, "We could call them the London Fog. We could call them the London Bridge. My thought would be the Broil, or the Werewolves of London" (THE DAILY).
FIX OF FOOTBALL: The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Jason Gay asks, "What exactly, is a healthy amount of TV football to watch?" Football watching is "treated as a compulsory American ritual" every Autumn, and the experience "becomes unavoidable." The assumption today is that consumers "will watch any football possible." Gay: "Not only will you watch it, you need to watch it, because it is the highlight of your weekend and the fiber of your being" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 11/10).
