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At long last, big win
for women's b'ball

Ratings soar for WNBA Finals as Phoenix beats Indiana

By Tom Conroy
Oct 15, 2009

The Women’s National Basketball Association has had its troubles, for sure.

At the end of the 2008 season, the Houston Comets franchise shut down, and at the end of this season Lisa Leslie, the league's star player, retired, ending 13 years as the face of the league.

And yet things may finally be turning for women's professional basketball, and where it matters most: in front of the TV set.

Viewership was way up for last week's WNBA Finals on ESPN2 in which the Phoenix Mercury clocked a five-game win over the Indiana Fever.

Total viewing was up 73.4 percent from last year, to 548,000 from 316,000 last year, and so were 18-49 viewers, by 73 percent among women and 49 percent among men.

Women's basketball joins a slew of other sports seeing ratings gains, likely because of the weak economy as Americans forgo a night on the town for an evening in front of the TV set.

Last Monday's ESPN telecast of the Green Bay Packers-Minnesota Vikings football game drew nearly 22 million viewers, the largest cable audience ever. And the American League tie-breaker game between the Detroit Tigers and the Minnesota Twins on TBS was, with 6.54 million viewers, the year’s most-watched regular-season baseball game on either cable or broadcast.

Also encouraging for women's basketball: Attendance at WNBA games was up slightly this year, rising 1.1 percent over 2008, for the third year of attendance growth.

When this recession is finally over, and people begin spending again, attendance could well go up again for WNBA games as those new TV fans turn into ticket buyers.

***

In cable ratings for the week ended Oct. 12:

Top five networks in primetime (18-49s): TBS, ESPN, USA, FX, Syfy.

Top five networks in primetime (total viewers): TBS, ESPN, USA, Fox News Channel, Nick at Nite.

Top movie (18-49s): E!’s “Knocked Up” (Sunday, 8 p.m.) 1.40 million.

Top sporting event (total viewers): ESPN’s “Monday Night Football: Packers/Vikings” (Monday, 8:30 p.m.) 21.84 million.

Shows making the top 10 among 18-34s, 18-49s and 25-54s: ESPN’s “Monday Night Football: Packers/Vikings” (Monday, 8:30 p.m.); FX’s “Sons of Anarchy” (Tuesday, 10 p.m.); ESPN’s “SportsCenter” (Monday, 11:56 p.m.); TBS’s “Twins/Yankees 1” (Wednesday, 6 p.m.); TBS’s “Tigers vs. Twins” (Tuesday, 5 p.m.); ESPN’s “Monday Night Countdown” (Monday, 7 p.m.).

Show on the rise: ESPN’s “Monday Night Football: Packers/Vikings,” Monday 8:30 p.m. Brett Favre’s first game against his old Green Bay Packers averaged 21.8 million viewers, making it the most-watched cable broadcast of all time.

Show on the decline: Spike TV’s “The Ultimate Fighter,” Wednesday 10 p.m. The reality competition slipped 48 percent week-to-week among 18-49s, from 4.12 million to 2.16 million.

TOP 25 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS Ranked on Household Rating Week Ending October 12
Rank	Primetime		Total Day
Rank	Net	(000)	Net	(000)
1	TBSC	3956	TBSC	1521
2	ESPN	2945	NICK	1506
3	USA	2220	ESPN	1123
4	FOXN	1633	USA	1105
5	NAN	1302	NAN *	1067
6	AEN	1130	FOXN	977
7	SYFY	1058	TNT	845
8	TOON	1008	ADSM*	842
9	TNT	986	TOON	803
10	FX	961	AEN	661
11	HGTV	952	LIF	578
12	LIF	927	TRU	573
13	DISC	874	FOOD	555
14	HIST	822	FX	550
15	FAM	803	DISC	540
16	TLC	799	HIST	538
17	FOOD	795	HGTV	534
18	TRU	784	SYFY	495
19	CMDY	690	SPK	465
20	SPK	672	TVLD	463
21	BRAV	654	FAM	431
22	AMC	637	HALL	429
23	MSNB	598	TLC	429
24	HALL	595	AMC	415
25	EN	581	CMDY	389
* 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 October 12
Rank	Program	Net	(000)
1	Packers vs. Vikings	ESPN	15136
2	Twins vs. Yankees 1	TBSC	4960
3	Tigers vs. Twins	TBSC	4780
4	Twins vs. Yankees 2	TBSC	4766
5	Yankees vs. Twins 3	TBSC	4704
6	Sportscenter	ESPN	4090
7	Cardinals vs. Dodgers 2	TBSC	3977
8	Cardinals vs. Dodgers 1	TBSC	3823
9	Red Sox vs. Angels 2	TBSC	3763
10	MLB Game Break	TBSC	3648
11	Monday Night Countdown	ESPN	3476
12	Red Sox vs. Angels 1	TBSC	3473
13	NCIS	USA	3392
14	WWE Raw	USA	3294
15	WWE Raw	USA	3268
16	Monk	USA	3189
17	Army Wives	LIF	3073
18	Phillies vs. Rockies 3	TBSC	3053
19	Spongebob	NICK	3008
20	NCIS	USA	2990
21	Dodgers vs. Cardinals 3	TBSC	2933
22	The O'Reilly Factor	FOXN	2846
23	The O'Reilly Factor	FOXN	2803
24	College Football-Friday Prime	ESPN	2802
25	Spongebob	NICK	2781
Source: Turner Research from Nielsen Media Research data

TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS Adults 18-34 Week Ending October 12
Rank	PRIME TIME		TOTAL DAY
Rank	Net	(000)	Net	(000)
1	TBSC	1120	TBSC	483
2	ESPN	972	ESPN	412
3	USA	492	ADSM*	411
4	FX	423	NICK	317
5	MTV	379	NAN *	280
6	CMDY	342	USA	254
7	EN	305	FX	229
8	SYFY	292	TNT	217
9	VH1	291	CMDY	204
10	FAM	276	MTV	202
* 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 October 12
Rank	PROGRAM	NET	(000)
1	Packers/Vikings	ESPN	5604
2	Sportscenter	ESPN	1850
3	The Hills	MTV	1553
4	Real World/Road Rules: The Ruins	MTV	1443
5	The Ultimate Fighter	SPK	1419
6	Sons Of Anarchy	FX	1403
7	Tigers vs. Twins	TBSC	1335
8	Monday Night Countdown	ESPN	1326
9	Twins vs. Yankees 1	TBSC	1323
10	Family Guy	ADSM	1312
Source: Turner Research from Nielsen Media Research data

TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS Adults 18-49 Week Ending October 12
Rank	PRIME TIME		TOTAL DAY
Rank	Net	(000)	Net	(000)
1	TBSC	2458	TBSC	962
2	ESPN	2129	ESPN	822
3	USA	1138	USA	573
4	FX	770	ADSM*	570
5	SYFY	741	NICK	517
6	AEN	632	TNT	484
7	DISC	603	NAN *	478
8	TNT	544	FX	416
9	CMDY	542	AEN	376
10	FOOD	531	DISC	352
* 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 October 12
Rank	PROGRAM	NET	(000)
1	Packers vs. Vikings	ESPN	11906
2	Sportscenter	ESPN	3452
3	Twins vs. Yankees 1	TBSC	2981
4	Tigers vs. Twins	TBSC	2814
5	Yankees vs. Twins 3	TBSC	2805
6	Twins vs. Yankees 2	TBSC	2705
7	Sons Of Anarchy	FX	2693
8	Monday Night Countdown	ESPN	2562
9	Cardinals vs. Dodgers 1	TBSC	2506
10	Red Sox vs. Angels 2	TBSC	2369
Source: Turner Research from Nielsen Media Research data

TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS Adults 25-54 Week Ending October 12
	PRIME TIME		TOTAL DAY
Rank	Net	(000)	Net	(000)
1	TBSC	2537	TBSC	944
2	ESPN	2132	ESPN	770
3	USA	1261	USA	604
4	SYFY	804	TNT	496
5	AEN	695	NICK	420
6	FX	670	AEN	393
7	DISC	608	NAN *	393
8	TNT	564	ADSM*	372
9	LIF	560	TRU	355
10	FOXN	556	FX	353
* 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 October 12
Rank	PROGRAM	NET	(000)
1	Packers vs. Vikings	ESPN	11750
2	Twins vs. Yankees 1	TBSC	3109
3	Sportscenter	ESPN	3085
4	Yankees vs. Twins 3	TBSC	3029
5	Tigers vs. Twins	TBSC	2971
6	Twins vs. Yankees 2	TBSC	2897
7	Red Sox vs. Angels 2	TBSC	2509
8	Sons Of Anarchy	FX	2478
9	Cardinals vs. Dodgers 1	TBSC	2416
10	Monday Night Countdown	ESPN	2388
Source: Turner Research from Nielsen Media Research data