NBC Sports Ratings

[whaler11]

Yes, that big payday is right around the bend:

Ratings down 22% against 'Versus' last year.
1st Quarter 2012 - 0.4 rating for M18-34. Worse than Lifetime Movie Network at 0.5.


Numbers from @TVSportsrating on twitter.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Wouldn't their lack of ratings indicate they would be looking for decent content as opposed to bass fishing, NHL and Mountain West games?

Note: I don't think we're getting a huge payday, but a decent increase from the current contract I think is reasonable.

 

[whaler11]

Wouldn't their lack of ratings indicate they would be looking for decent content as opposed to bass fishing, NHL and Mountain West games?

Note: I don't think we're getting a huge payday, but a decent increase from the current contract I think is reasonable.

Well it would mean that they could pay you all the money in the world and you still wouldn't want to be on their network because no one watches your games. A sports network that gets lower ratings than LMN for males 18-34. That almost seems impossible. I don't feel like looking up the number, but I think I saw that Darren Rovell's show gets about 12,000 viewers. ESPN First Take has been averaging something like 450k viewers. You'd have to be insane to make that trade.

You are also ignoring that their ratings dropped 22% AFTER they rebranded themselves as NBC Sports Network. They are still showing the same crap and lost a fifth of their viewers.

NBCS I believe paid the NHL 2 billion for 10 years - and they are going to take a bath on that deal, you think they are going to pay more for the Big East - San Diego State versus Rutgers is a better property than the NHL?

 

[whaler11]

I found some of the numbers.

NBCS averaged 63k viewers, ESPN First Take last week was 465k. On 3/2 Rovell had 6k viewers.

On 3/1 Costas on NBCS finished 2054th in ratings - behind a 2am TV Guide network infomercial at 2053rd.

NHL games this season are averaging 333k viewers on NBCS. Impact Wrestling on Spike averages 1.7 million.


Anyone who wants to tie themselves to that anchor deserves to drown with them.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Anyone who wants to tie themselves to that anchor deserves to drown with them.

Could the low ratings be more attributed to the fact that NBC Sports Network isn't on many cable providers basic package in addition to their content sucking?

Don't get me wrong - everyone watches ESPN and I would take less money to still be affiliated with them ( side note: I hate ESPN but I'm a realistic guy ) but if NBC used the Big East and promoted it as their #1 product and games were given exposure on basic cable NBC as well as NBC Sports Network - I would imagine the ratings would increase.

Not sure what else is on basic cable NBC during Saturdays except Notre Dame - but every other station is college football all day. Seems like you could throw the ND game at 3:30 and have the next best BE games on at 12:00 and 7:00.

 

[whaler11]

Could the low ratings be more attributed to the fact that NBC Sports Network isn't on many cable providers basic package in addition to their content sucking?

Don't get me wrong - everyone watches ESPN and I would take less money to still be affiliated with them ( side note: I hate ESPN but I'm a realistic guy ) but if NBC used the Big East and promoted it as their #1 product and games were given exposure on basic cable NBC as well as NBC Sports Network - I would imagine the ratings would increase.

Not sure what else is on basic cable NBC during Saturdays except Notre Dame - but every other station is college football all day. Seems like you could throw the ND game at 3:30 and have the next best BE games on at 12:00 and 7:00.

It's on plenty of systems. If the NHL didn't get them onto a decent tier, Seton Hall versus SMU isn't going to solve that.

They already promote the NHL as their number one product and TNT/TBS gets ratings 8-12 times higher for the NBA - why would I expect them to do any better marketing San Diego State against Rutgers?

You think that Notre Dame is going to allow themselves to move to basic cable so that NBCS can draw more viewers for Memphis and Houston?

What number is worth moving there for? 20 million a year for the football schools? That's 4 BILLION over a decade before you even pay the basketball schools. Does that seem reasonable to broadcast Central Florida against Cincinnati?

 

[ConnHuskBask]

It's on plenty of systems. If the NHL didn't get them onto a decent tier, Seton Hall versus SMU isn't going to solve that.

Probably not Seton Hall and SMU, but what about Boise State Football, UConn, Louisville basketball? It's not fair to just toss out the most unappealing BE matchups and say nobody cares.

They already promote the NHL as their number one product and TNT/TBS gets ratings 8-12 times higher for the NBA - why would I expect them to do any better marketing San Diego State against Rutgers?

Because people don't care as much about the NHL and the NBA is about as popular as it's been since the Jordan era? Conferences are making money hand over fist right now.

You think that Notre Dame is going to allow themselves to move to basic cable so that NBCS can draw more viewers for Memphis and Houston?

Maybe I don't understand the term correctly - but I used basic cable in reference to NBC not NBSC. Notre Dame won't move their games, but if NBC has no programming on Saturdays they could show BE football at 12 and 7, while the lesser matchups go on NBCS. Again, you're using the worse matchup possible. UConn vs. Navy or Boise State vs. Rutgers isn't Auburn vs. Alabama obviously, but I think it could generate ratings compared to whatever their normal Saturday filler is.

What number is worth moving there for? 20 million a year for the football schools? That's 4 BILLION over a decade before you even pay the basketball schools. Does that seem reasonable to broadcast Central Florida against Cincinnati?

I have no clue what the price point would be to move to NBC - but I think NBC needs content for both NBC and NBCS. BE would bring football all over the US in big markets, top notch basketball, the BE Championship at MSG and a future BE Football Championship. I'm not saying it's a home run for either sides-but what's the alternative for both sides?

 

[UConnDan97]

It's on plenty of systems. If the NHL didn't get them onto a decent tier, Seton Hall versus SMU isn't going to solve that.

They already promote the NHL as their number one product and TNT/TBS gets ratings 8-12 times higher for the NBA - why would I expect them to do any better marketing San Diego State against Rutgers?

You think that Notre Dame is going to allow themselves to move to basic cable so that NBCS can draw more viewers for Memphis and Houston?

What number is worth moving there for? 20 million a year for the football schools? That's 4 BILLION over a decade before you even pay the basketball schools. Does that seem reasonable to broadcast Central Florida against Cincinnati?

Whaler11, could you provide us with some of the NHL numbers on the other networks? (I would look it up, but I'm lazy). I think you're giving WAY too much credit on NHL ratings than you really should be, although I admit that I don't know the numbers. I can only say that my perception is that, yes, more people will care about a Boise State versus Louisville football game than they will about a Carolina Hurricanes versus Nashville Predators game. Absolutely yes. We might not be the SEC, but we aren't that either.

I'm also curious about how many of the big market NHL teams get their games on other networks preferentially over NBCSports? (I'm referring to New York, Boston, etc.)

 

[huskypantz]

The only thing I watched on Versus was UFC and other MMA events. Those drew lower ratings on Versus than similar cards on Spike TV. I would guess that the drop is partially attributed to the loss of MMA content in 2012. I have no idea what crappy shows are on the NBC channel, but I think that's half of their problem. No one knows, no one cares.

 

[Fishy]

First, if anyone thinks that NBC is going to put Big East football on at 7 pm on a Saturday night, holy duck* balls, they're insane. NBC would run a test pattern before that ever happens.

I watch cycling on NBC Sports Network.

I would say the Tour of Flanders and SMU-Central Florida have about the same commercial appeal.

 

[Adios]

We need one of the major networks to broadcast KHL games. The KHL kicks ass.

 

[whaler11]

I have no idea what the NHL ratings should be - I can only surmise that when they spent 2 billion dollars on them they expected a hell of a lot more. When they rebranded themselves I doubt they planned on being -29% YOY against Versus in the 18-34 demo. People bring up the fishing shows - but the fishing shows are by far and away the highest rated programming they have.

CHB - you hit on the major issue. You've got 3 things of any real value in the entire league really. Louisville and UConn basketball and Boise St football (as long as they stay in the BCS top 10). ND, Marquette, Georgetown, Villanova, St John's basketball, I guess have some value - but unless you are only going to show a handful of teams there is no way to avoid a parade of uninteresting games.

So how does anyone surmise that NBCS is going to pay billions of dollars for another property of questionable value when they haven't shown they can get higher ratings than the Lifetime Movie Network for men between 18-34. How could any rational person pretend they are going to leverage a 5th rate network into a payday?

 

[metsfan2323]

MSNBC and Fox News will never compete with CNN

Hyundai will never compete with GM

and Apple computer is a dying company with a small cult following.

 

[HartbeatHusky]

NBC will pay a lot of money to get exclusive Big East basketball rights. We all agree that we don't really want all of our basketball games on NBCS but having them on network NBC would not be all that bad. Any deal that the Big East makes with NBC needs to involve having most of the higher value football and basketball games be broadcast on the main network with a few on NBCS in order to try to boost it's profile. If we could get a deal with NBC comparable to or exceeding the ACC's deal with ESPN the BE probably has no choice but to take it at this point.

 

[Cheddie]

First, if anyone thinks that NBC is going to put Big East football on at 7 pm on a Saturday night, holy duck* balls, they're insane. NBC would run a test pattern before that ever happens.

Have you watched NBC lately? They're running repeats of "Smash" on Saturday nights.

 

[metsfan2323]

The Dodgers just sold for $2 billion, well above what had been expected, due in large part to the potential value of their TV rights. Sometimes the open market produces surprising results.

 

[NutmegState]

Have you watched NBC lately? They're running repeats of "Smash" on Saturday nights.

And Figure skating Saturday afternoons. NBC will put Big East Football on the Network channel, without question.

 

[frankthetank]

By way of introduction, I became aware of this board since it has linked to some of my blog posts at Frank the Tank's Slant, so I check the board out from time to time to see the different perspectives out there regarding conference realignment. I believe that there are some intelligent posters here that understand the big picture.

One thing about NBC/Comcast: no one should assume that anything other than a Big East team hosting Notre Dame (e.g. Navy once it joins) will ever get onto the over-the-air NBC network. The Big East has a large amount of potential value to NBC Sports Network simply because of the volume of games that the conference can provide (although like the OP, I'm much more skeptical of both their ability to grow or the true willingness to spend - the newly proposed Fox sports network has much more promise as a legit ESPN competitor, IMHO). However, that doesn't really translate to over-the-air NBC, where the business model is based upon a couple of big home runs as opposed to a lot of singles that provide volume. One poster above alluded to NBC only showing figure skating on Saturday afternoons, yet everyone needs to realize the average figure skating program actually draws very good ratings at a fraction of the cost of college football. It's the same thing with the fishing shows on NBC Sports Network - those shows that are actually extremely profitable since they can be rerun all week and still draw audiences. At the same time, NBC's fall sports lineup is much more filled up than people are giving it credit for - they have a ton of golf, such as the FedEx Cup and Ryder Cup, and a new Breeders Cup deal that takes up most (if not all) of the fall weekends that NBC isn't showing Notre Dame football. Note that golf is specifically important to NBC/Comcast since they synergize it with Golf Channel (which they also own and happens to have better carriage and rights fees than NBC Sports Network), so they're not moving golf for any college football outside of a Notre Dame conflict.

To the extent that NBC/Comcast is interested in the Big East, it's 99.9% about cable. As I've said, there might be a stray exception for those years when Navy is hosting Notre Dame. That's not a knock on the Big East - sports rights fees are almost solely driven by cable right now. We've already seen the BCS bowls go to cable exclusively, the Final Four will be on cable in a few years and you'll be seeing more and more MLB and NBA playoff games end up there, too.

 

[whaler11]

MSNBC and Fox News will never compete with CNN

Hyundai will never compete with GM

and Apple computer is a dying company with a small cult following.

Starring Waylon Smithers as Bill O'Reilly, Carl Spackler as Steve Jobs and Palatine as the woman who loves them both.

 

[whaler11]

Note that golf is specifically important to NBC/Comcast since they synergize it with Golf Channel (which they also own and happens to have better carriage and rights fees than NBC Sports Network),

I wonder why that might be the case?

Some more ratings facts from @tvsportsratings.

NBCS averaged 63k viewers in 1st Quarter. Have to go back to Outdoor channel in 2Q'04 to find smaller audience. Versus always bigger.

1st Qtr viewership vs. last year: Golf=+18%, , NBCS=-22%,

1st Quarter Viewership: Golf=118k, NBCS=63k,

You want to ride that nag down a sewer - knock yourself out. If you think they are giving the 12 Big East football schools almost 20 million dollars a year....

 

[RS9999X]

Some older (August) relevant news:


13 UConn basketball games on SNY averaged a 5.0 rating in the Hartford DMA, paced by a February matchup against Providence, which drew a 7.3 rating. Five football games averaged a 2.9 rating in Hartford, topping out with a 6.1 against Cincinnati.

Last August, SNY became the official TV home of UConn football and men’s basketball, a move that helped SNY gain cable distribution throughout Connecticut.

“The UConn ratings in Connecticut were really strong,” Raab said. “We were encouraged by that.”

SNY has signed deals with Fairfield University for three games (mostly basketball) and Quinnipiac University for six games (mostly basketball and hockey). It’s also had serious conversations — but no deals yet — with Yale and the AHL’s Sound Tigers.

These are described as programming partnerships that do not involve rights fees.

It also has the rights to re-air UConn football and basketball games and plans to show evergreen programming, like interviews with UConn basketball coaches Geno Auriemma and Jim Calhoun.

SNY executives say the move already has attracted Connecticut-specific advertisers, including People’s United Bank, Town Fair Tire, DiGiorgi Roofing and Siding, and Blimpie.

“It gives Connecticut-specific advertisers a chance to focus on a more narrow audience,” Raab said.

http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2011/08/29/Media/SNY.aspx

 

[CL82]

I have no idea what the NHL ratings should be - I can only surmise that when they spent 2 billion dollars on them they expected a hell of a lot more. When they rebranded themselves I doubt they planned on being -29% YOY against Versus in the 18-34 demo. People bring up the fishing shows - but the fishing shows are by far and away the highest rated programming they have.

CHB - you hit on the major issue. You've got 3 things of any real value in the entire league really. Louisville and UConn basketball and Boise St football (as long as they stay in the BCS top 10). ND, Marquette, Georgetown, Villanova, St John's basketball, I guess have some value - but unless you are only going to show a handful of teams there is no way to avoid a parade of uninteresting games.

So how does anyone surmise that NBCS is going to pay billions of dollars for another property of questionable value when they haven't shown they can get higher ratings than the Lifetime Movie Network for men between 18-34. How could any rational person pretend they are going to leverage a 5th rate network into a payday?

Because they've already invested in establishing it and Big East college BB and FB are the only possible content available.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

BigEastSucksBigEastSucksBigEastSucksBigEastSucksBigEastSucksBigEastSucksBigEastSucksBigEastSucksBigEastSucksBigEastSucksBigEastSucksBigEastSucksBigEastSucksBigEastSucksBigEastSucksBigEastSucksBigEastSucksBigEastSucksBigEastSucksBigEastSucksBigEastSucksBigEastSucksBigEastSucksBigEastSucksBigEastSucksBigEastSucksBigEastSucks

I get it.

 

[whaler11]

BigEastSucksBigEastSucksBigEastSucksBigEastSucksBigEastSucksBigEastSucksBigEastSucksBigEastSucksBigEastSucksBigEastSucksBigEastSucksBigEastSucksBigEastSucksBigEastSucksBigEastSucksBigEastSucksBigEastSucksBigEastSucksBigEastSucksBigEastSucksBigEastSucksBigEastSucksBigEastSucksBigEastSucksBigEastSucksBigEastSucksBigEastSucks

I get it.

As a television property compared to the other 5 BCS leagues it does. Glad you finally had your moment of clarity.

 

[CL82]

As a television property compared to the other 5 BCS leagues it does. Glad you finally had your moment of clarity.

I don't like McDonalds. I used to as a kid. I'm not sure if the quality has gone down or if my tastes have changed over the years. Wendy's, BK, Subway, Hardees all have a better a fast food product.

But if I'm hungery and McD's is all that's available, I'll pay to get it. It doesn't hurt that it is available coast to coast either.