Ice sports give
NBC cable a hefty bump
Ratings are well up for both hockey and curling
By Toni Fitzgerald
Feb 24, 2010
An odd mix between shuffleboard and housecleaning, curling has been described as a practical joke that Canada plays on the rest of the world every four years.
But NBC Universal certainly isn't laughing.
With cable coverage heavy on curling and ice hockey, NBCU is seeing year-to-year gains on the three networks carrying the Games, as well as increases over the last Olympics.
USA, which airs a mix of curling and hockey, led the three networks with 1.7 million viewers through last Thursday, up 7 percent over the same timeslots last year and increasing nearly 800,000 from the 2006 Turin Games.
MSNBC, also carrying hockey and curling as well as speed and figure skating, was averaging 608,000 viewers, though that's sure to soar after the record 8.2 million who tuned in for Sunday's U.S.-Canada hockey game.
That's up 2 percent from the same time last year, compared to the post-Obama inaugural ratings boost, and up almost 200,000 from the 2006 Turin Games.
Finally CNBC, which carries curling, hockey and biathlon, was averaging 788,000 viewers, 241 percent above last February's average and 18 percent better than Turin.
Curling and hockey have clearly been driving the increased viewership. According to a Nielsen analysis of online Olympic buzz released last week, hockey was by far the most buzzed-about sport, receiving 30.6 percent of all mentions.
Curling placed a surprising fourth at 8.8 percent, just 1.2 percentage points behind figure skating, generally the most-watched Olympic sport.
One reason for the big interest in the two sports is that they're practically inescapable. Curling and hockey, with their round-robin qualifying, men's and women's competitions, and multi-day medal rounds, will receive the most TV coverage of any sports this Olympics, more than 120 hours apiece.
The men's and women's hockey teams are also competing for medals, which always drives stronger tune-in.
Finally, there's one somewhat sexist but nonetheless real reason for the passionate response to curling, at least among male viewers. As the wry sports blog Deadspin recently noted, many women's curling participants are young, blonde and good looking.
As one Twitter poster asked yesterday afternoon, "Why are all the women in female curling really hot?"
***
In cable ratings for the week ended Feb. 21:
Top five networks in primetime (18-49s): USA, TBS, TNT, FX, History Channel.
Top five networks in primetime (total viewers): USA, TNT, Fox News Channel, Nick at Nite, TBS.
Top movie (18-49s): No movie cracked the top 50 among viewers 18-49.
Top sporting event (total viewers): MSNBC’s “Winter Olympics” (Sunday, 7:45 p.m.) 8.22 million.
Shows making the top 10 among 18-34s, 18-49s and 25-54s: MSNBC’s “Winter Olympics” (Sunday, 7:45 p.m.); MSNBC’s “Winter Olympics Postgame” (Sunday, 9:55 p.m.); E!’s “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” (Monday and Sunday, 10 p.m.).
Show on the rise: E!’s “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” Sunday 10 p.m. The season finale averaged 4.8 million total viewers, making it E!’s most-watched program ever.
Show on the decline: USA’s “Burn Notice” Thursday 10 p.m. The drama undoubtedly lost viewers to the Olympics, slipping 18 percent week-to-week among viewers 18-49 from 2.27 million viewers to 1.87 million.
|
TOP 25 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS
Ranked on Household Rating
Week Ending February 21 |
|
Rank |
Primetime |
Total Day |
|
Net |
(000) |
Net |
(000) |
|
1
|
USA
|
2054
|
NICK
|
1784
|
|
2
|
TNT
|
1512
|
NAN
*
|
1374
|
|
3
|
FOXN
|
1461
|
USA
|
1185
|
|
4
|
NAN
|
1458
|
TNT
|
1093
|
|
5
|
TBSC
|
1162
|
ADSM*
|
1008
|
|
6
|
AEN
|
1116
|
FOXN
|
993
|
|
7
|
HIST
|
1094
|
TOON
|
871
|
|
8
|
ESPN
|
1056
|
TBSC
|
720
|
|
9
|
MSNB
|
1025
|
AEN
|
684
|
|
10
|
TOON
|
962
|
HIST
|
624
|
|
11
|
FX
|
958
|
ESPN
|
622
|
|
12
|
FAM
|
884
|
TRU
|
619
|
|
13
|
TRU
|
867
|
HGTV
|
572
|
|
14
|
HGTV
|
838
|
LIF
|
566
|
|
15
|
EN
|
778
|
FX
|
555
|
|
16
|
SYFY
|
760
|
DISC
|
526
|
|
17
|
TLC
|
733
|
SPK
|
521
|
|
18
|
DISC
|
732
|
FOOD
|
520
|
|
19
|
LIF
|
722
|
FAM
|
480
|
|
20
|
AMC
|
718
|
CNBC
|
463
|
|
21
|
SPK
|
714
|
CMDY
|
459
|
|
22
|
FOOD
|
686
|
AMC
|
453
|
|
23
|
CMDY
|
682
|
MTV
|
445
|
|
24
|
MTV
|
665
|
EN
|
431
|
|
25
|
CNBC
|
643
|
TLC
|
420
|
|
* Network broadcasts less than 51% of minutes in a 24-hour day.
Source: Turner Research from Nielsen Media Research data
|
|
TOP 25 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE PROGRAMS
Ranked on Households
Week Ending February 21 |
|
Rank
|
Program |
Net
|
(000) |
|
1
|
Winter Olympics Prime
|
MSNB
|
4980
|
|
2
|
Winter Olympics Prime Post
|
MSNB
|
4042
|
|
3
|
NCIS
|
USA
|
3669
|
|
4
|
Keeping Up With the Kardashians
|
EN
|
3596
|
|
5
|
WWE Raw
|
USA
|
3410
|
|
6
|
NCIS
|
USA
|
3289
|
|
7
|
Penguins
|
NAN
|
3261
|
|
8
|
WWE Raw
|
USA
|
3213
|
|
9
|
Spongebob
|
NICK
|
3208
|
|
10
|
Spongebob
|
NICK
|
3179
|
|
11
|
Spongebob
|
NICK
|
3150
|
|
12
|
NCIS
|
USA
|
3115
|
|
13
|
Pawn Stars
|
HIST
|
3106
|
|
14
|
Spongebob
|
NICK
|
3096
|
|
15
|
Burn Notice
|
USA
|
3069
|
|
16
|
NCIS
|
USA
|
3026
|
|
17
|
The Penguins Of
Madagascar
|
NICK
|
2977
|
|
18
|
Spongebob
|
NICK
|
2944
|
|
19
|
NCIS
|
USA
|
2941
|
|
20
|
Keeping Up With the Kardashians
|
EN
|
2921
|
|
21
|
NCIS
|
USA
|
2919
|
|
22
|
Pawn Stars
|
HIST
|
2917
|
|
23
|
Spongebob
|
NICK
|
2884
|
|
24
|
iCarly
|
NICK
|
2827
|
|
25
|
Spongebob
|
NICK
|
2727
|
|
Source: Turner Research from Nielsen Media Research data
|
|
TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS
Adults 18-34
Week Ending February 21 |
|
Rank |
PRIME TIME |
TOTAL DAY |
|
Net |
(000) |
Net |
(000) |
|
1
|
TBSC
|
566
|
ADSM*
|
504
|
|
2
|
USA
|
512
|
NICK
|
357
|
|
3
|
EN
|
422
|
NAN
*
|
355
|
|
4
|
TNT
|
410
|
TBSC
|
329
|
|
5
|
MTV
|
405
|
USA
|
298
|
|
6
|
ESPN
|
360
|
TNT
|
272
|
|
7
|
FX
|
354
|
MTV
|
249
|
|
8
|
CMDY
|
346
|
ESPN
|
247
|
|
9
|
FAM
|
331
|
CMDY
|
223
|
|
10
|
HIST
|
317
|
EN
|
223
|
|
* Network broadcasts less than 51% of minutes in a 24-hour day.
Source: Turner Research from Nielsen Media Research data
|
|
TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE SHOWS
Adults 18-34
Week Ending February 21 |
|
Rank |
PROGRAM |
NET |
(000) |
|
1
|
Keeping Up With the Kardashians
|
EN
|
2378
|
|
2
|
Winter Olympics Prime
|
MSNB
|
2137
|
|
3
|
Keeping Up With the Kardashians
|
EN
|
2021
|
|
4
|
16 And Pregnant 2
|
MTV
|
1992
|
|
5
|
Winter Olympics Prime Post
|
MSNB
|
1763
|
|
6
|
Family Guy
|
ADSM
|
1421
|
|
7
|
Family Guy
|
ADSM
|
1413
|
|
8
|
Family Guy
|
ADSM
|
1404
|
|
9
|
Family Guy
|
ADSM
|
1402
|
|
10
|
On E!
|
EN
|
1259
|
|
Source: Turner Research from Nielsen Media Research data
|
|
TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS
Adults 18-49
Week Ending February 21 |
|
Rank |
PRIME TIME |
TOTAL DAY |
|
Net |
(000) |
Net |
(000) |
|
1
|
USA
|
1116
|
ADSM*
|
690
|
|
2
|
TBSC
|
936
|
TNT
|
639
|
|
3
|
TNT
|
925
|
USA
|
632
|
|
4
|
FX
|
738
|
NAN
*
|
619
|
|
5
|
HIST
|
718
|
NICK
|
589
|
|
6
|
AEN
|
692
|
TBSC
|
572
|
|
7
|
EN
|
655
|
AEN
|
429
|
|
8
|
ESPN
|
645
|
ESPN
|
413
|
|
9
|
MSNB
|
645
|
FX
|
412
|
|
10
|
TRU
|
604
|
TRU
|
394
|
|
* Network broadcasts less than 51% of minutes in a 24-hour day.
Source: Turner Research from Nielsen Media Research data
|
|
TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE SHOWS
Adults 18-49
Week Ending February 21 |
|
Rank |
PROGRAM |
NET |
(000) |
|
1
|
Winter Olympics Prime
|
MSNB
|
4530
|
|
2
|
Winter Olympics Prime Post
|
MSNB
|
3760
|
|
3
|
Keeping Up With the Kardashians
|
EN
|
3502
|
|
4
|
Keeping Up With the Kardashians
|
EN
|
2880
|
|
5
|
WWE Raw
|
USA
|
2471
|
|
6
|
16 And Pregnant 2
|
MTV
|
2387
|
|
7
|
WWE Raw
|
USA
|
2346
|
|
8
|
Pawn Stars
|
HIST
|
2174
|
|
9
|
Family Guy
|
ADSM
|
2000
|
|
10
|
Pawn Stars
|
HIST
|
1964
|
|
Source: Turner Research from Nielsen Media Research data
|
|
TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS
Adults 25-54
Week Ending February 21 |
|
|
PRIME TIME |
TOTAL DAY |
|
Rank
|
Net |
(000) |
Net |
(000) |
|
1
|
USA
|
1187
|
TNT
|
672
|
|
2
|
TNT
|
969
|
USA
|
646
|
|
3
|
HIST
|
795
|
NAN
*
|
496
|
|
4
|
TBSC
|
750
|
TBSC
|
484
|
|
5
|
AEN
|
738
|
NICK
|
475
|
|
6
|
FX
|
701
|
ADSM*
|
457
|
|
7
|
MSNB
|
662
|
AEN
|
440
|
|
8
|
TRU
|
643
|
TRU
|
419
|
|
9
|
ESPN
|
613
|
HIST
|
415
|
|
10
|
SYFY
|
539
|
FX
|
373
|
|
* Network broadcasts less than 51% of minutes in a 24-hour day.
Source: Turner Research from Nielsen Media Research data
|
|
TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE SHOWS
Adults 25-54
Week Ending February 21 |
|
Rank |
PROGRAM |
NET |
(000) |
|
1
|
Winter Olympics Prime
|
MSNB
|
4381
|
|
2
|
Winter Olympics Prime Post
|
MSNB
|
3525
|
|
3
|
Keeping Up With the Kardashians
|
EN
|
2698
|
|
4
|
Pawn Stars
|
HIST
|
2388
|
|
5
|
WWE Raw
|
USA
|
2370
|
|
6
|
WWE Raw
|
USA
|
2211
|
|
7
|
Keeping Up With the Kardashians
|
EN
|
2206
|
|
8
|
Pawn Stars
|
HIST
|
2189
|
|
9
|
Burn Notice
|
USA
|
1927
|
|
10
|
NCIS
|
USA
|
1789
|
|
Source: Turner Research from Nielsen Media Research data
|
|
|
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