NFL Lifts ESPN to Victory

At this point in the game, it has become apparent that Hank Williams, Jr., is posing a purely rhetorical question when he asks about our collective readiness for football. We are ready, willing and able to watch NFL action, and ESPN’s November ratings illustrate this rather conclusively.Buttressed by another powerhouse season of Monday Night Football, ESPN racked up its third consecutive monthly ratings race. Through Nov. 28, Bristol averaged 3.91 million total viewers in prime time, leaping 20 percent from its year-ago deliveries (3.26 million).Per Nielsen ratings data, ESPN made a clean sweep of the crucial TV demos, drawing 1.94 million viewers 18-49 (up 21 percent versus November 2009), while serving up 1.91 million adults 25-54, an improvement of 17 percent from 1.63 million. The sports net also made a splash with younger viewers, averaging 949,000 members of the 18-34 demo, an increase of 24 percent from its year-ago number.MNF accounted for the four most-watched programs on basic cable last month. On Nov. 8, the Steelers-Bengals battle delivered 15.1 million fans, topping the following week’s game (Eagles-Redskins) by some 2,100 viewers. On the first of the month, the Texans and Colts slugged it out in front of a national TV audience of 12 million fans, while the AFC West grudge match between the Chargers and Broncos served up 11.7 million viewers.(While Nielsen categorizes the Nov. 29 MNF broadcast as part of December’s ratings, the less-than-compelling duel between the 3-7 Cardinals and the 3-7 49ers still managed to lure 11.2 million viewers. Football: It’s what’s for dinner.)Through the first 11 weeks (12 games), ESPN’s MNF is averaging 14.3 million viewers, up 2 percent from the year-ago 14 million.ESPN also put up some big numbers with its coverage of the NCAA Division I brawl between No. 1 Oregon and the University of Arizona. On Black Friday, some 7.79 million viewers watched as the Ducks crushed the Wildcats 48-29, in a victory that takes them one step closer to nailing down an invitation to the Bowl Championship Series title game. Having kicked off its eight-game slate of live contests on Nov. 11, the NFL Network has roared to life, racking up three of the 20 most-watched programs on ad-supported cable. Thanksgiving’s Bengals-Jets game helped 7.11 million fans fight off the lingering effects of tryptophan, while the Bears and Dolphins fought it out in front of 5.42 million viewers on Nov. 18. NFL Net’s first game of the 2010-11 campaign, an avian skirmish between the Falcons and Ravens, drew 5.03 million viewers on Veteran’s Day. NFL Network saw its November deliveries spike 60 percent to 730,000 viewers. The pigskin channel joined the ranks of the top 20 destination for adults 25-54, averaging 389,000 viewers, a 54 percent increase from a year ago.USA Network took second place on the month, averaging 2.74 million total viewers, a drop of 13 percent compared to last November’s 3.16 million. Although the network saw declines in the demos, USA claimed second place among the two biggies, drawing 1.16 million adults 25-54 (down 15 percent) and 1.13 million viewers 18-49 (down 11 percent from its year-ago 1.27 million).Fox News Channel’s midterm election coverage helped bring home the bronze, as the news net drew a nightly audience of 2.15 million viewers, a dip of 3 percent versus a year ago. Among the core 25-54 news demo, FNC averaged 527,000 viewers, down 10 percent from 583,000.FNC’s Nov. 2 election coverage averaged 6.96 million viewers in prime. The news net’s strongest hour arrived at 9 p.m., when 7.17 million viewers watched as the results began pouring in.Taking fourth in November prime was TBS, with an average draw of 1.86 million viewers, up 2 percent year-over-year. The Turner net finished strong among the demos, taking second place with 623,000 viewers 18-49 and claiming third among viewers 18-49 (1.07 million, up 3 percent) and 25-54 (912,000, up 2 percent).TBS made some noise on the night of the 8th, as the premiere of its 11 p.m. talk show Conan drew 4.99 million Team Coco stalwarts, of which 66 percent (3.29 million) were members of the 18-49 demo. When seven days of time-shifted viewing are added to the live-plus-same-day numbers, the first week of Conan upped its deliveries of viewers 18-49 by 18 percent.Since the show bowed earlier this month, Conan is averaging 1.8 million viewers per night. The median age of the program’s audience is in the low 30s.TBS sibling TNT closed out November in fifth place, averaging 1.72 million viewers in prime, a drop of 7 percent from the year-ago 1.85 million. The network put up its best numbers with the 25-54 set, finishing fourth with an an average draw of 772,000. Despite falling 14 percent in both demos, TNT claimed fifth place among viewers 18-49 (747,000). Rounding out the top 10 last month were: Nick at Nite, which dropped 8 percent to 1.67 million viewers; History, up 28 percent with 1.51 million viewers; ABC Family, up 11 percent (1.48 million); Cartoon Network, up 5 percent to 1.44 million viewers; and FX, up 3 percent with 1.38 million total viewers.Per Nielsen, 12 of ad-supported cable’s top 40 networks notched double-digit ratings gains on the month, while only seven nets suffered declines of 10 percent or more. Twenty-two major networks enjoyed year-to-year gains of 1 percent or more, while 18 moved in the other direction.While the top 10 networks were generally solid, November offered a mixed bag for cable nets that ranked between No. 11 and No. 40 in prime. On a percentile basis, the biggest gainer of the month was Investigation Discovery, which soared 88 percent with an average delivery of 458,000 viewers. That builds on an already solid October, in which Henry Schleiff’s channel improved 66 percent to 376,000 total viewers.Other networks making great strides in November were: TV Land, which improved 31 percent to 882,000 viewers; AMC, which scared up 1.24 million viewers, a gain of 26 percent; and Oxygen, up 21 percent to 482,000. Oxygen also enjoyed momentum in its target demos, upping its share of women 18-49 by 31 percent (193,000), while boosting deliveries of women 18-34 by 62 percent.After launching a Martha Stewart-centric daytime block, Hallmark Channel began seeing major improvement in its evening ratings. The network grew its overall deliveries by 19 percent in November, averaging 1.18 million viewers in prime. Sequentially, Hallmark jumped from No. 30 spot in October (580,000 viewers) to No. 12 among ad-supported cable nets.Bravo, MSNBC and MTV all grew 15 percent in prime. The NBC Universal network served up 890,000 viewers on the month, while MSNBC drew 816,000 and MTV landed 751,000.A&E took the biggest hit among the top 40 nets last month, falling 22 percent to 1.15 million viewers, off from 1.48 million a year ago. Demo declines were less drastic, with viewers 18-49 dropping 9 percent to 592,000 and adults 25-54 sliding 11 percent (623,000). Both deliveries kept A&E in the top 10. Also losing ground were: Headline News, which fell 21 percent to 397,000 total viewers; ESPN2, down 21 percent to 849,000; Lifetime Movie Network, down 19 percent to 541,000; Syfy, off 17 percent to 1.09 million; and CNN, down 12 percent to 600,000 viewers. The bleeding was less pronounced among CNN’s target demo, as the news net dipped 4 percent with adults 25-54, with an average nightly catch of 184,000.Tops among the core TV demo were: ESPN, which drew 1.94 million viewers 18-49, up 21 percent; USA, with 1.13 million (down 11 percent); TBS (1.07 million, up 3 percent); FX (780,000, down 3 percent); TNT (747,000, down 14 percent); ABC Family (up 25 percent to 671,000); History (up 29 percent to 651,000); Comedy Central (602,000, up 2 percent versus a year ago); A&E (down 9 percent to 592,000); and AMC, which was far from dead as it improved 26 percent in the demo to 583,000.Non-ad-supported Disney Channel took third among all basic cable nets in November, averaging 2.59 million viewers in prime, a gain of 5 percent versus the prior-year period, when it drew 2.48 million viewers. The Mouse maintained its dominance among the kiddie demos, averaging 1.39 million viewers 2-11, 1.06 million viewers 6-11 and 930,000 ‘tweens 9-14.Disney Channel earned its biggest crowd of the month on Sunday, Nov. 7, as a special one-hour installment of Hannah Montana drew 7.81 million viewers. At 8:30 p.m., lead-out Shake It Up premiered to 6.67 million viewers. The three subsequent episodes of the original series have served up 4.37 million, 4.28 million and 3.8 million viewers, respectively.

Convergent TV

NFL Lifts ESPN to Victory

Anthony Crupi

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Anthony Crupi