Articles

January 14, 2013
 

SKEDBALL: Weekend Sports Ratings Bowl

More articles by »
Written by: Mitch Metcalf
Tags: , , , , , ,

This past sports weekend was dominated by four Divisional playoff games.  The first game in the Saturday doubleheader, traditionally the weakest matchup, turned out to be one of the best games (an exciting contest finally settled in double overtime).

The Ravens and Broncos game Saturday at 4:30 (21.6 HH rating in the 56 large markets with Nielsen meters) was virtually identical to the comparable game last year (21.7 rating for New Orleans at San Francisco in the same time period last year).

The second game in the Saturday doubleheader this year (18.7 rating for Green Bay at San Francisco) was down from the comparable game last year (20.6 rating for Denver at New England).  The beginning of the GB-SF game actually had to compete against the final half hour of the BAL-DEN marathon game.

The early Sunday game between the Seahawks at Falcons (21.3 rating) was up a bit from the Sunday 1 pm game last year (20.6 rating for Houston at Baltimore).

Finally, the late afternoon Sunday game between the Texans and Patriots (23.8 rating) was down significantly from the 27.4 rating for Giants at Packers last year in the comparable time period.

 

NFL Divisional Weekend Jan 12-13, 2013

Sports Overnight Ratings (HH)

Rating Share Mkts % US
CBS 4:30 Sat BAL-DEN 21.6 39  56 70
FOX 8:30 GB-SF 18.7 31  56 70
FOX 1:30 Sun SEA-ATL 21.3 42 56 70
CBS 4:45 HOU-NE 23.8 39  56 70

[/box_light]

On balance this year’s Divisional weekend averaged 21.4 rating per game, down from an average 22.6 rating last year.

 

Local Market Ratings

Boston wins the fan-support award — over a 50 rating for their team’s game.  Milwaukee (the major market nearest Green Bay) came close, posting a 49.5 rating for the Packers loss to San Francisco.

At the other extreme, San Francisco was the least supportive market, “only” a 33.3 rating for their 49ers game.

1.12 & 1.13.2013 KEY MARKET RATINGS
Away Team Rating Share Home Team Rating Share
CBS Sat 4:30 BAL 47.2 71 DEN 48.4 81
FOX Sat 8:30 GB (MIL) 49.5 73 SF 33.3 60
FOX Sun 1:30 SEA 45.6 79 ATL 39.7 64
CBS Sun 4:45 HOU 39.3 61 NE (BOS) 50.5 72

SATURDAY SPORTS.  Not much on Saturday afternoon against playoff football — basically test patterns.

Saturday 1.12.2013

Sports Overnight Ratings (HH)

Rating Share Mkts % US
CBS 4:30 NFL Divisional BAL-DEN 21.6 39 56 70
ABC 4:00 ESPN Saturday 0.5 1 56 70
NBC 5:00 Incredible Dog Challenge 0.9 2 56 70
FOX n/a n/a
ESPN n/a n/a


About the Author

Mitch Metcalf
MITCH METCALF has been tracking every US film release of over 500 screens (over 2300 movies and counting) since the storied weekend of May 20, 1994, when Maverick and Beverly Hills Cop 3 inspired countless aficionados to devote their lives to the art of cinema. Prior to that, he studied Politics and Economics at Princeton in order to prepare for his dream of working in television. He has been Head of West Coast Research at ABC, then moved to NBC in 2000 and became Head of Scheduling for 11 years.