Sports Telecasts Perform Well Through First Five Months Of '09
By Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor
Sports telecasts on over-the-air TV have performed well during the first five months of ’09, taking seven of the top 10 most-viewed telecasts on all of TV. Super Bowl XLIII on NBC averaged 98.7 million viewers in February, more than double the No. 2 telecast, which was the Ravens-Steelers AFC Championship on CBS with 40.6 million viewers. Fox has four football telecasts in the top 15 to date, which combined with a multitude of “American Idol” telecasts gives the net 19 of the 25 most-viewed telecasts on TV.
CABLE GUYS: NBA telecasts have dominated the cable landscape through the end of May, with eight of the top 10 and 17 of the top 25 most-viewed telecasts belonging to the league. For the month of May, considered to be April 27-May 31, TNT's 28 NBA postseason telecasts propelled the net to the top spot among all nets for primetime programming, averaging 3.560 million viewers, up 21.5% from 2.931 million viewers a year ago (April 28-May 25), and up 36.5% from 2.609 million viewers in May ’07 (April 30-May 27). The net’s May 26 telecast of Cavaliers-Magic Eastern Conference Finals Game Four is the only cable telecast in ’09 to date to top 10 million viewers. No NBA cable telecasts in '08 averaged more than 7.25 million viewers. Meanwhile, ESPN in May finished fourth among cable nets with 2.102 million viewers, buoyed by 12 primetime NBA telecasts. The viewers are up 15.7% from 1.816 million viewers last year and 48.4% from 1.416 million viewers in May ’07. The charts below list the top 25 most-viewed telecasts on over-the-air and cable TV through June 7.
|
'09 MOST-VIEWED TELECASTS ON
BROADCAST TV (OVER-THE-AIR) THROUGH JUNE 7
|
|
RK
|
DATE
|
NET
|
TELECAST
|
VIEWERS (000)
|
|
1
|
2/1
|
NBC
|
Super Bowl XLIII: Steelers-Cardinals
|
98,732
|
|
2
|
1/18
|
CBS
|
AFC Championship: Ravens-Steelers
|
40,645
|
|
3
|
1/18
|
Fox
|
NFC Championship: Eagles-Cardinals
|
38,387
|
|
4
|
2/22
|
ABC
|
Academy Awards
|
36,310
|
|
5
|
1/11
|
CBS
|
AFC Divisional Game: Chargers-Steelers
|
34,107
|
|
6
|
1/11
|
Fox
|
NFC Divisional Game: Eagles-Giants
|
31,358
|
|
7
|
1/13
|
Fox
|
"American Idol"
|
30,424
|
|
8
|
1/14
|
Fox
|
"American Idol"
|
30,322
|
|
9
|
1/4
|
Fox
|
NFC Wild Card: Eagles-Vikings
|
30,026
|
|
10
|
5/20
|
Fox
|
"American Idol"
|
28,838
|
|
11
|
1/3
|
NBC
|
AFC Wild Card: Colts-Chargers
|
27,792
|
|
12
|
1/28
|
Fox
|
"American Idol"
|
27,364
|
|
13
|
1/8
|
Fox
|
FedEx BCS National Championship: Florida-Oklahoma
|
26,767
|
|
14
|
2/3
|
Fox
|
"American Idol"
|
26,601
|
|
15
|
2/4
|
Fox
|
"American Idol"
|
26,384
|
|
16
|
3/25
|
Fox
|
"American Idol"
|
26,025
|
|
17
|
1/21
|
Fox
|
"American Idol"
|
25,897
|
|
18
|
3/10
|
Fox
|
"American Idol"
|
25,767
|
|
19
|
3/11
|
Fox
|
"American Idol"
|
25,547
|
|
20
|
1/27
|
Fox
|
"American Idol"
|
25,539
|
|
21
|
1/10
|
CBS
|
AFC Divisional Game: Ravens-Titans
|
25,453
|
|
22
|
2/17
|
Fox
|
"American Idol"
|
25,374
|
|
23
|
2/10
|
Fox
|
"American Idol"
|
24,941
|
|
24
|
2/11
|
Fox
|
"American Idol"
|
24,825
|
|
25
|
2/18
|
Fox
|
"American Idol"
|
24,790
|
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'09 MOST-VIEWED CABLE TELECASTS THROUGH JUNE 7
|
|
RK
|
DATE
|
NET
|
TELECAST
|
VIEWERS
(000)
|
|
1
|
5/26
|
TNT
|
Cavaliers-Magic: Game Four
|
10,075
|
|
2
|
5/28
|
TNT
|
Magic-Cavaliers: Game Five
|
9,995
|
|
3
|
5/25
|
TLC
|
"John and Kate Plus 8"
|
9,802
|
|
4
|
5/25
|
ESPN
|
Lakers-Nuggets: Game Four |
9,731
|
|
5
|
5/27
|
ESPN
|
Nuggets-Lakers: Game Five |
9,238
|
|
6
|
5/24
|
TNT
|
Cavaliers-Magic: Game Three |
8,969
|
|
7
|
1/20
|
CNN
|
Obama Inauguration: Oath/Speech |
8,602
|
|
8
|
5/29
|
ESPN
|
Lakers-Nuggets: Game Six |
8,462
|
|
9
|
5/17
|
TNT
|
Magic-Celtics: Game Seven |
8,382
|
|
10
|
5/30
|
TNT
|
Cavaliers-Magic: Game Six |
8,362
|
|
11
|
5/19
|
ESPN
|
Nuggets-Lakers: Game One |
8,085
|
|
12
|
5/21
|
ESPN
|
Nuggets-Lakers: Game Two |
7,886
|
|
13
|
3/28
|
Nickelodeon
|
"'09 Kids Choice Awards" |
7,675
|
|
14
|
2/15
|
TNT
|
NBA All-Star Game |
7,621
|
|
15
|
5/14
|
ESPN
|
Lakers-Rockets: Game Six |
7,352
|
|
16
|
5/20
|
TNT
|
Magic-Cavaliers: Game One |
7,321
|
|
17
|
5/2
|
TNT
|
Bulls-Celtics: Game Seven |
6,987
|
|
18
|
5/22
|
TNT
|
Magic-Cavaliers: Game Two |
6,910
|
|
19
|
1/20
|
CNN
|
Obama Inauguration Coverage |
6,733
|
|
20
|
2/14
|
TNT
|
NBA All-Star Saturday Night |
6,554
|
|
21
|
5/29
|
Nickelodeon
|
"iCarly: iDate a Bad Boy" |
6,472
|
|
22
|
3/28
|
Nickelodeon
|
"Penguins of Madagascar" |
6,439
|
|
23
|
2/16
|
USA
|
WWE: Monday Night Raw |
6,402
|
|
24
|
5/6
|
TNT
|
Rockets-Lakers: Game Two |
6,321
|
|
25
|
3/7
|
Nickelodeon
|
"iCarly" |
6,299
|
NOTE: All figures are Live+Same-Day.
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