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Cable recap

Home run derby up, All-Star Game down

ESPN's special draws 6.88 million viewers, a 3 percent bump

By Toni Fitzgerald

July 18, 2012

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Viewership for Major League Baseball's All-Star Game has been falling the past few years.

But viewership is on the rise for the league's home run derby, which airs on ESPN the night before the All-Star game.

Last week's derby averaged 6.88 million total viewers Monday night at 8:16 p.m., according to Nielsen, up 3 percent over last year, when it averaged 6.68 million viewers.

The special was the most-watched program on cable last week, and the 16-minute derby lead-in show that started at 8 p.m. ranked seventh for the week with 4.9 million viewers.

It marked the second straight year that viewership for the home run derby has grow. By contrast, Fox's All-Star Game has seen declines each of the past three years, falling to an all-time low of 10.9 million viewers last week.

It would seem counterintuitive that one MLB event is rising while the other is falling. But in fact there are some reasons behind it.

The derby and the All-Star game are events whose viewership rises and falls depending on how exciting the contest is. In years when the players aren't hitting scads of homers in the derby, viewers will change the channel.

And when a game seems all but done after the first inning, as it was last week when the National League jumped out to a 4-0 lead, there's little that can convince viewers to stick around.

Secondly, the All-Star game faces summer's toughest competition, NBC's hit reality show "America's Got Talent," which actually drew more viewers than the game last year and finished just a few hundred thousand behind it this year.

Though the derby also faces some strong shows, including Fox's "Hell's Kitchen" and ABC's "The Bachelorette," the latter skews heavily female. The derby skews heavily male.

Finally, though the derby has been on the rise of late, it's nowhere near pulling the sort of numbers it drew at its peak. Four years ago the special averaged 9.1 million viewers, when Josh Hamilton set an MLB record by hitting 28 dingers in a single round.

***

In cable ratings for the week ended July 15:

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

Top five networks in primetime (total viewers): USA, Disney Channel, TNT, History, FX.

Top five cable news networks in primetime (25-54): Fox News Channel, MSNBC, CNN, HLN, CNBC.

Top five cable news programs (total viewers): 1 Fox News Channel's "The O'Reilly Factor" (Thursday, 8 p.m.); 2. Fox News Channel's "The O'Reilly Factor" (Wednesday, 8 p.m.); 3. Fox News Channel's "The O'Reilly Factor" (Monday, 8 p.m.); 4. Fox News Channel's "The O'Reilly Factor" (Tuesday, 8 p.m.); 5. Fox News Channel's "Hannity" (Thursday, 9 p.m.)

Top movie (18-49s): TBS's "The Hangover" (Sunday, 8 p.m.) 1.61 million.

Top sporting event (total viewers): ESPN's "Home Run Derby" (Monday, 8:16 p.m.) 6.88 million.

Shows making the top 10 among 18-34s, 18-49s and 25-54s: ESPN's "Home Run Derby" (Monday, 8:16 p.m.); ESPN's "Home Run Derby Prelude" (Monday, 8 p.m.).

Show on the rise: A&E's "Longmire," Sunday, 10 p.m. The first-year drama averaged 4.5 million total viewers, a series high and up 10 percent from the previous week.

Show on the decline: MTV's "Snooki & J-Woww" Thursday, 10 p.m. The reality spinoff averaged 834,000 viewers 18-34, off 16 percent from 996,000 the previous week. (The loss of MTV from DirecTV households may have had an impact.)

TOP 25 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS Ranked on Total Viewers Week Ending July 15
Rank	Primetime		Total Day
Rank	Net	(000)	Net	(000)
1	USA	3075	DSNY	2169
2	DSNY	2852	NICK	1494
3	TNT	2486	ADSM*	1421
4	HIST	2396	TOON	1420
5	FX	1891	USA	1237
6	ESPN	1879	TNT	1145
7	TBSC	1840	HIST	1137
8	AEN	1769	FOXN	1053
9	FOXN	1710	FX	991
10	ADSM	1582	AEN	888
11	DISC	1199	TBSC	799
12	TRU	1197	ESPN	734
13	HGTV	1196	HGTV	705
14	FOOD	1179	FOOD	643
15	SYFY	1123	DISC	612
16	FAM	1048	NAN *	608
17	LIF	1040	TRU	608
18	TLC	970	ID	575
19	AMC	923	AMC	545
20	BRAV	802	FAM	532
21	EN	765	LIF	529
22	CMDY	733	TLC	518
23	MSNB	729	TVLD	513
24	BET	708	NKJR	508
25	NKJR	705	SYFY	489
* Network broadcasts less than 51% of minutes in a 24-hour day. Source: Turner Research from Nielsen data

TOP 25 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE PROGRAMS Ranked on Total Viewers Week Ending July 15
Rank	Program	Net	(000)
1	Home Run Derby	ESPN	6882
2	The Closer	TNT	6145
3	Perception	TNT	5601
4	Rizzoli & Isles	TNT	5516
5	Swamp People	HIST	5188
6	Pawn Stars	HIST	5112
7	Home Run Derby Prelude	ESPN	4918
8	Pawn Stars	HIST	4796
9	Sprint Cup Racing/Loudon	TNT	4775
10	Storage Wars	AEN	4656
11	WWE Raw	USA	4520
12	Longmire	AEN	4452
13	Burn Notice	USA	4438
14	Storage Wars	AEN	4313
15	WWE Raw	USA	4294
16	Mountain Men	HIST	4156
17	Royal Pains	USA	4147
18	American Pickers	HIST	4013
19	NASCAR Post Race Show	TNT	3999
20	Shake It Up	DSNY	3926
21	Jessie	DSNY	3866
22	NCIS	USA	3789
23	A.N.T. Farm	DSNY	3721
24	Suits	USA	3704
25	Jessie	DSNY	3674
Source: Turner Research from Nielsen data

TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS Adults 18-34 Week Ending July 15
Rank	PRIME TIME		TOTAL DAY
Rank	Net	(000)	Net	(000)
1	TBSC	573	ADSM*	520
2	ESPN	531	DSNY	272
3	ADSM	500	FX	255
4	USA	442	TBSC	253
5	FX	421	ESPN	242
6	HIST	358	TOON	227
7	CMDY	331	NICK	216
8	FAM	328	HIST	207
9	AEN	301	USA	200
10	MTV	285	CMDY	185
* Network broadcasts less than 51% of minutes in a 24-hour day. Source: Turner Research from Nielsen data

TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE SHOWS Adults 18-34 Week Ending July 15
Rank	PROGRAM	NET	(000)
1	Home Run Derby	ESPN	1801
2	Love and Hip Hop: Atlanta	VH1	1580
3	Home Run Derby Prelude	ESPN	1320
4	Family Guy	ADSM	1266
5	Tosh.O	CMDY	1235
6	Keeping Up With The Kardashians	EN	1214
7	Family Guy	ADSM	1211
8	Family Guy	ADSM	1207
9	Family Guy	ADSM	1160
10	Teen Mom Season 4	MTV	1149
Source: Turner Research from Nielsen data

TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS Adults 18-49 Week Ending July 15
Rank	PRIME TIME		TOTAL DAY
Rank	Net	(000)	Net	(000)
1	TBSC	1065	ADSM*	727
2	USA	1022	FX	474
3	ESPN	964	HIST	474
4	HIST	913	TBSC	454
5	FX	868	USA	444
6	TNT	795	DSNY	442
7	AEN	731	ESPN	422
8	ADSM	724	AEN	410
9	TRU	574	TNT	410
10	FOOD	571	NICK	351
* Network broadcasts less than 51% of minutes in a 24-hour day. Source: Turner Research from Nielsen data

TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE SHOWS Adults 18-49 Week Ending July 15
Rank	PROGRAM	NET	(000)
1	Home Run Derby	ESPN	3402
2	Love and Hip Hop: Atlanta	VH1	2377
3	Home Run Derby Prelude	ESPN	2350
4	Storage Wars	AEN	2216
5	Swamp People	HIST	2123
6	Pawn Stars	HIST	2093
7	Storage Wars	AEN	2065
8	WWE Raw	USA	2003
9	Pawn Stars	HIST	1971
10	Breaking Bad	AMC	1941
Source: Turner Research from Nielsen data

TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS Adults 25-54 Week Ending July 15
	PRIME TIME		TOTAL DAY
Rank	Net	(000)	Net	(000)
1	USA	1180	HIST	513
2	HIST	1080	USA	500
3	TBSC	1047	TNT	497
4	TNT	978	ADSM*	494
5	ESPN	935	TBSC	438
6	FX	852	FX	436
7	AEN	818	AEN	434
8	DISC	639	ESPN	392
9	FOOD	611	DSNY	358
10	SYFY	573	FOOD	325
* Network broadcasts less than 51% of minutes in a 24-hour day. Source: Turner Research from Nielsen data

TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE SHOWS Adults 25-54 Week Ending July 15
Rank	PROGRAM	NET	(000)
1	Home Run Derby	ESPN	3466
2	Pawn Stars	HIST	2493
3	Swamp People	HIST	2453
4	Home Run Derby Prelude	ESPN	2437
5	Pawn Stars	HIST	2392
6	Storage Wars	AEN	2380
7	Storage Wars	AEN	2212
8	Sprint Cup Racing/Loudon	TNT	2042
9	WWE Raw	USA	2041
10	The Big Bang Theory	TBSC	2029
Source: Turner Research from Nielsen data