FOX Wins The NFL Ratings Battle For The Second Year In A Row
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
At the beginning of the season, I thought it was a lock that CBS was going to take the NFL "TV Partners Cup" this season, but because of the Brady injury and a "fading Favre", FOX once again won the ratings battle for the year. It was a close race though. I've sifted through the numbers, via SBJ, and here's how they networks came out in the end....
The NFC's channel averaged a little over 17 Million viewers for the year, with NBC clocking in at 16.6, and CBS hitting exactly a 16.2. The interesting thing with the numbers though is that, when compared to the 2007 totals, the only network that did better was NBC. CBS was hit the hardest by being down 2.1, and while FOX was down slightly from last year, NBC actually gained 4.2% in viewers and 2% in the final average rating.
As far as Pregame Shows go, FOX won the overall award with CBS only trailing slightly, as both networks showed gains over 2007. ESPN's Countdowns were the only pregame shows that brought brought in losses (Monday: -4.8%, Sunday: -4.5%), and in its first year, NFL-N's "NFL GameDay Morning" averaged a rather paltry 270,000 viewers.
Other notable numbers:
- Cowboys played in six of the top games on FOX and CBS.
- Steelers played in five.
- ESPN averaged an 8.9 cable rating for its third season of Monday Night Football (up 3.5%).
- The NFL Network averaged a 6.2 cable rating (down 12.7%).
- "The OT" on FOX beat out "Football Night In America" on NBC by an average rating of 6.9 to 4.0.
7 Comments:
Apparently, the only thing that out-rates NFL Football is infomercials. From Rome's show to Stoney & Wojo, it's been All Snuggie & ShamWow Radio today.
RJBO, it also keeps Billy Mays employeed.
Fox and CBS deserved their respective rankings. Look to NYC: if a local team wasn't available, Fox aired a game of local interest while CBS aired a national game. NYC lost out on a Titans game (when they were still unbeaten) and 2 Patriots games because of CBS' dumbass policies.
It doesn't help that CBS seems to produce its NFL telecasts on the cheap.
It doesn't help that CBS seems to produce its NFL telecasts on the cheap.
What are you talking about? CBS has the highest sound quality around.
/that annoying "low-flying plane" noise
And chuckyinjersey, in Philadelphia, at least for much of the season, it was all Fucking Steelers all the fucking time.
As for that 270K viewers NFL Network's new pre-game show was doing, that must be the entire NFL Network viewing audience.
Ahh...so this is how CBS can say they are the most watched network for the NFL. TV by the Numbers says CBS had the most viewers for the entire regular season--150.9 million vs. Fox's 146.9 million, NBC's 132 million and ESPN's 99 million. Fox claims number one through the average weekly rating.
But in Adults 18-49, the only category advertisers really care about, Fox kicked everyone else's ass. It was the highest-rated show of the season PERIOD, beating Desperate Housewives (8.2 vs. 6.7). I cannot find where the other NFL networks finished in this demo.
I noticed this weekend that CBS still says that they are the #1 most watched pregame show. I wonder if they'll brag about being #2 now.