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Research and Ratings

NFL Net October Primetime Audience Up Big; Lack Of NHL Games Hurts NBC Sports Net

The addition of early season games to NFL Network paid big dividends in October. The net saw primetime viewership jump 501% year-over-year, with total-day audience up 132%. NBA TV also saw big year-over-year gains in October with preseason games this year. The net saw primetime viewership jump 231% from October '11, when the league was still mired in a lockout and no preseason games were played. Fuel TV was also the beneficiary of a strong October, with additional UFC telecasts helping the net to a 150% jump in primetime audience. On the flip side, NBC Sports Network saw a significant drop in primetime audience in October without the aid of its main draw, the NHL. NBCSN's primetime audience was down 62% in October, with total-day audience down 45%. ESPN led all sports nets in primetime with 3.1 million average viewers, up 1% from last year. However, ESPN2 saw its primetime audience drop 30% and ESPNews was down 18%. After a record-setting Q4 last year, Golf Channel got off to a slower start in October, with primetime audience down 33% and total-day down 30%.

PRIMETIME VIEWERSHIP IN OCTOBER
NETWORK
'12 (000)
'11 (000)
% +/-
ESPN
3,102
3,079
1%
NFL Network
931
155
501%
ESPN2
455
649
-30%
Speed
119
194
-39%
NBA TV
96
29
231%
ESPNews
78
95
-18%
MLB Network
77
63
22%
Golf Channel
72
108
-33%
NBC Sports Net
72
190
-62%
Fuel TV
35
14
150%
Fox Soccer
26
37
-30%
 
TOTAL-DAY VIEWERSHIP IN OCTOBER
NETWORK
'12 (000)
'11 (000)
% +/-
ESPN
1,235
1,288
-4%
ESPN2
278
346
-20%
NFL Network
276
119
132%
Speed
96
123
-22%
MLB Network
63
40
58%
ESPNews
56
68
-18%
NBA TV
49
17
188%
Golf Channel
48
69
-30%
NBC Sports Net
38
69
-45%
Fox Soccer
25
29
-14%
Fuel TV
16
7
129%

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