Cable Ratings Top Over-The-Air For Third Straight Year
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Panthers-Falcons Part Of
Successful Ratings Week For ESPN
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Ad-supported cable this year through December 19 earned a record-high
52.7 primetime share, compared to the seven broadcast networks which saw their
share earn an all-time low of 43.1, meaning basic cable will top broadcast networks
for the third straight year, according to Nielsen Media Research data cited
by Mike Reynolds of MULTICHANNEL NEWS. Meanwhile, for the week of December 13-19,
ESPN registered the highest among cable nets, averaging a 2.8 Nielsen rating
after earning a 9.5 for Ravens-Colts on December 19. The game’s 8.4 million
viewers was the sixth-largest audience in cable’s history and ESPN’s fourth-largest
ever. ESPN also garnered a 6.5 for Panthers-Falcons a day earlier (MULTICHANNEL.com,
12/23). The 12.1 million viewers who tuned in for Ravens-Colts topped all
cable programs for the week. Panthers-Falcons was second with 7.6 million viewers
(USA TODAY, 12/23).
IT’S NOT TV, IT’S RICH TV: HBO this year will become
the first TV network in history to net $1B in profit, and Sanford Bernstein
senior analyst Tom Wolzien said that the “only network that may be close to
the billion-dollar benchmark is ESPN.” Kagan Research found that ESPN will post
revenues this year of $2.4B, and ESPN’s four main networks will jointly sell
over $1.25B in advertising in ’04. ESPN will post $770M in cash flow this year,
while ESPN2 will add another $105M (John Dempsey, DAILY VARIETY, 12/23).
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