The "OMG A National Audience" Narrative

[HuskyBaggins]

Does anyone else feel like this is being vastly oversold ?

I'm not sure the number of people with access to ABC vs ESPN, but suffice to say, I don't think anyone under 40 turns on the TV and thinks "I wonder what's on ABC, CBS, and NBC" ? People that want to watch basketball, or women's basketball were going to do that, regardless if the game was on ESPN or ABC. I mean, I get it - I grew up in that era, too, but watching TV is not some random act where people will tune in by chance because something is on ABC rather than some other channel. I dare say the likely effect on total viewers was statistically insignificant.

I feel like this is totally a narrative based on a bygone era when there were only 13 channels and ESPN was some sort of new-fangled invention.

 

[Bald Husky]

When was growing up there was ABC, NBC, and CBS. THATS IT!

 

[DefenseBB]

I posted this on the other thread when people were complaining why was this game on at 1 PM on ABC vs 7 PM on ESPN.
ABC is in 114.8 million households while ESPN is in 87 million so yeah, ~28 million more households is a pretty big deal to reach.
It will be interesting to see what the ratings actually tell us about each of the 4 games yesterday and today.

 

[HuskyBaggins]

Cord cutting stats for reference... Only 10% of people under 34 watch TV on a traditional service. The other 90% are watching streaming services.

19 Cord Cutting Statistics & Trends in 2024 [The Dusk Of TV]

The number of cord-cutters is predicted to reach 55.1 million by 2022! Find out more cord cutting statistics that show the downslide of TV!

techjury.net

 

[Kmoney]

When was growing up there was ABC, NBC, and CBS. THATS IT!

I was privileged. We had PBS and local Philadelphia channels. I used to wonder how all of those channels fit into that 19” TV.

 

[HuskyBaggins]

I posted this on the other thread when people were complaining why was this game on at 1 PM on ABC vs 7 PM on ESPN.
ABC is in 114.8 million households while ESPN is in 87 million so yeah, ~28 million more households is a pretty big deal to reach.
It will be interesting to see what the ratings actually tell us about each of the 4 games yesterday and today.

Meh. ESPN claims 86 million households, but also says that is 93% of "pay tv service households", meaning they think there are only 92 million pay TV households. Nielson says there are 120 TV viewing households, total, and only 16 million over-air households. Somewhere there are 12 million missing homes in there.

Of course, the last championship game on ESPN had 3.7 million viewers, so the demand, per se, isn't driving people to watch that much.

It just seems like an odd talking point. If you're trying to increase the exposure of women's basketball, you're going to have to target that under 35 demographic, of which 90% are accessing TV on a streaming service, the difference for them between ESPN and ABC is negligible. But I also know people in that demographic and they just don't turn on the TV and go see what is on either one of those channels unless it involves the show they specifically wanted to watch in the first place.

Both games last night were outstanding and definitely great for anyone watching, but I'm not buying that there was a single pair of eyes watching that game because it was on ABC instead of ESPN.

 

[HuskyBaggins]

When was growing up there was ABC, NBC, and CBS. THATS IT!

We were in that boat in rural western CT, getting the CT stations. Then, we put an antenna on top of the mountain behind our house and ran 1000 feet of cable to be able to get the NY channels - 2, 6, 5, 7, 9, 11, and the weak PBS on 13. Good livin' - and mostly so we could watch the Yankees on WPIX 11

 

[LCConnFan]

When was growing up there was ABC, NBC, and CBS. THATS IT!

Don't forget PBS. Oh and if you lived on a hill like I did, you also got a few from NY!

 

[Gurleyman]

A bit of hyperbole. According to Weird Al Yankovic, there were already 83 channels of cable tv by 1985. And if you can’t trust Weird Al, who can you trust?

 

[Waquoit]

Network TV still has the greatest reach.

 

[Vowelguy]

You are correct that the network/cable distinction is not big these days. Some major events like the CFB championship are shown on cable even though they are certainty big enough for network prime time.

But I think the women on ABC is notable for a couple of reasons — one as noted the reach is wider and you might pick up casual dial flippers never exposed to wcbb. And all firsts are significant — and this the first time tourney games (other than the final) have been on network TV. No matter how you slice it, that’s a good thing for the sport.

 

[Crossover]

Cord cutting stats for reference... Only 10% of people under 34 watch TV on a traditional service. The other 90% are watching streaming services.

19 Cord Cutting Statistics & Trends in 2024 [The Dusk Of TV]

The number of cord-cutters is predicted to reach 55.1 million by 2022! Find out more cord cutting statistics that show the downslide of TV!

techjury.net

That fact is less significant than you think. I am a cable cutter (albeit one who is more than twice 34 years of age) and my streaming service basic package includes ABC, NBC, and CBS.

 

[Zinethar]

I happen to be a cable cutter. I live in an area that can not get over the air TV since it all went digital leaving us with basically Spectrum or Satellite. I know young people today don't listen to at least AM radio or over the air TV. Many older people (like me) find the local options too expensive for what you get. So now I stream everything. The service I selected so far is Hulu which has both ABC and the ESPN networks (except ESPN3! although many of its games are offered. Putting it on the local network ABC station actually cut down my options to watch the game.

 

[f1f1ferrari]

A bit of hyperbole. According to Weird Al Yankovic, there were already 83 channels of cable tv by 1985. And if you can’t trust Weird Al, who can you trust?

I love that song! "Weird Al" is the best!

 

[Oldschoolbb]

I was privileged. We had PBS and local Philadelphia channels. I used to wonder how all of those channels fit into that 19” TV.

I used to love watching the Big Five on Channel 17 once we had cable tv in my SE PA town. Outstanding.

 

[CL82]

When was growing up there was ABC, NBC, and CBS. THATS IT!

PBS

 

[Skeets]

You are correct that the network/cable distinction is not big these days. Some major events like the CFB championship are shown on cable even though they are certainty big enough for network prime time.

But I think the women on ABC is notable for a couple of reasons — one as noted the reach is wider and you might pick up casual dial flippers never exposed to wcbb. And all firsts are significant — and this the first time tourney games (other than the final) have been on network TV. No matter how you slice it, that’s a good thing for the sport.

"Casual dial flippers"? Who has a dial? Do you dial your phone?

 

[msf22b]

Waiting impatiently for ABC's ratings

 

[JimGunther]

Well, being on the "Big Network" allowed me to watch my first live game of the year. Great game BTW