Network chest thumpin' n' bumpin'
This is the day when any network that had the foresight to throw millions of dollars at Roger Goodell's company in return for the honor of having guaranteed ratings begin the annual ritual of boasting about what a wonderful world this is we all live in.
Roger, Roger. And don't call me Shirley.
Of course this is a great planet, much better off than Pluto. This is the NFL's world and we're living in it.
It's the only sports programming that's guaranteed gold. Other than poker.
The real season is here, and ESPN, NBC, CBS and Fox are doing cartwheels.
Here are the samples of the number-crammed, head-spinning press releases we've been bombarded with in the last 24 hours, proving that there's never a better time to be living than the here and now if you're NFL branded, and that we can't hit the delete button fast enough:
From ESPN:
The press release:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 12, 2006
MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL DELIVERS BIG FOR ESPN ...
24.6 GROSS RATINGS POINTS ON TV, 36 MILLION PAGE VIEWS ON ESPN.COM ...
MINNESOTA/WASHINGTON DELIVERED ESPN'S LARGEST AUDIENCE EVER ...
MNF COVERAGE OUT-RATED ALL NETWORKS IN PRIME TIME
Last night’s debut of Monday Night Football on ESPN, a special opening doubleheader, delivered the network's biggest audience ever, a day of tremendous ratings for ESPN and a major boost to ESPN.com and its new "Monday Night Surround" content. The two games gained ESPN and ad-supported cable television’s best ratings and largest audiences of the year.
The Minnesota Vikings’ 19-16 victory over the Washington Redskins (7 p.m. ET), earned a 9.9 rating, representing an average of 9,177,000 households (12,570,000 viewers – P2+). The telecast is ESPN's biggest audience ever and the first time the network has delivered an average of more than nine million homes. The previous ESPN record was 8,927,000 households, for the Detroit Lions at Miami Dolphins NFL game on Christmas, Dec. 25, 1994.
It is also the second largest audience in cable television history, behind CNN's NAFTA debate in November 1993 between Al Gore and Ross Perot (11,174,000 households).
At 10:15 ET, the San Diego Chargers’ 27-0 shutout of the Oakland Raiders received an 8.5 rating. An average of 7,872,000 households were watching (10,495,000 viewers). For the usual MNF time slot (8:30 – 11:45 p.m.), ESPN averaged a 11.3 rating, with a 11.4 rating for 8-11 p.m., the highest of any network (broadcast or cable) for the night in primetime.
"Monday Night Football is a clear winner for ESPN," said George Bodenheimer, president, ESPN and ABC Sports. "We’re thrilled that fans enjoyed our new day-long, multimedia approach to this storied franchise. To average more than 10 million viewers for each game demonstrates the power of Monday Night Football and ESPN."
Our take:
Anytime you can get Ross Perot into a press release about sports TV, that's saying something.
Look at that picture above again. There's a screen grab someone at Deadspin.com had from that Vikings-Redskins telecast. Apparently, all the bugs haven't been worked out in the ESPN graphics department, or maybe they were just celebrating too early.
ESPN will continue to be the NFL's greatest ally and anytime the network can spin something good, it'll do it. Now, about Tom Jackson calling Michael Irvin retarded on the NFL studio set ...
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From NBC:
The press release:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NBC'S PRIMETIME NFL TELECASTS RANK #1 AND #2 IN 18-49 FOR THE WEEK OF SEPT. 4-10 ...
'NBC SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL' BOOSTS THE NETWORK TO ITS HIGHEST-RATED NIGHT SINCE JANUARY 2005 (EXCLUDING OLYMPICS)
BURBANK, Calif. - September 12, 2006 - NBC Sports primetime coverage of NFL football scored the #1 and #2 adult 18-49 ratings of the week of September 4-10, according to in-home viewing figures from Nielsen Media Research. NBC averaged a 3.5 rating and 10 share in 18-49 and 9.6 million viewers overall for the week, ranking #2 in 18-49 and #1 in total viewers.
The debut of "NBC Sunday Night Football" was the #1 program of the week in adults 18-49 and NBC's first regular-season NFL telecast on Thursday night ranked #2.out of a total of 116 network programs this week. In total viewers, the Sunday and Thursday NFL telecasts ranked #1 and #3 respectively. (Note: rankings exclude Fox's NFL overrun on Sunday.)
NBC finished #2 for the week in adults 18-49 and #1 in adults 25-54, total viewers and other key demographic measures. Primetime averages for the week of September 4-10 in adults 18-49 were Fox (3.6/10), NBC (3.5/10), ABC (2.6/8), CBS (2.4/7), Univision (1.6/5), WB (0.6/2), Telemundo (0.4/1) and UPN (0.3/1). In overall total viewers the weekly averages were NBC (9.7 million), Fox (9.3 million), ABC (7.5 million), CBS (7.1 million), Univision (3.6 million), WB (1.7 million), UPN (0.9 million) and Telemundo (0.9 million).
Our take: Excluding Olympics is key there. But also take into account that NBC started this week airing a two-hour prime-time show called "Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of 'Diff'rent Strokes'." Enough said.
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From CBS:
The press release:
September 12, 2006:
CBS SPORTS’ “THE NFL TODAY� EARNS BEST WEEK 1 NATIONAL RATING SINCE 1998 ...
Return of James Brown to CBS Sports, Alongside Dan Marino, Boomer Esiason and Shannon Sharpe Helps Narrow Pre-Game Ratings Gap to Tenth of a Rating Point for Week 1 ...4.83 Million Viewers Tune In to “THE NFL TODAY� Earning 20% Increase
CBS Sports’ NFL pre-game show, THE NFL TODAY, highlighted by the return of James Brown to CBS Sports as the host and its new state-of-the-art, high definition studio set, earned an average fast national household rating/share of 3.5/9, up +25% from last year’s 2.8/8 for Week 1 of the NFL season. The 3.5/9 is the best HH rating/share for THE NFL TODAY in Week 1 of the season since 1998.
THE NFL TODAY also was seen by an average of 4.830 million viewers, up +20% from last year’s 4.083 million viewers. This year’s 4.830 million viewers was the highest number of average viewers to watch THE NFL TODAY in Week 1 of the season since 1998.
THE NFL TODAY continues to close the ratings gap between the Sunday afternoon broadcast pre-game shows. This year’s Week 1 ratings difference marked the smallest margin (0.1 HH rating point) between the two pre-game shows in Week 1 since 1998.
THE NFL TODAY also continues closing the viewership gap between the two afternoon pre-game shows. This year’s average viewership in Week 1 represents the smallest margin (320,000 viewers) between the two pre-game shows in the first week of the NFL season.
Our take:
C'mon, James Brown is the reason anyone watched the pregame? That's like saying you watch "The Simpsons" to see what Maggie has to say. Did people follow him from Fox to CBS? Doubt it. And when you're using phrases like "close the gap," it's not too subliminal a way of saying you're trailing and seem to be catching up. That's nothing to brag about, but they did anyway.
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From Fox:
The only network that didn't send anything out let the NFL do the bragging for them with this release:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NFL GAMES RANK 1-2 AMONG ALL PROGRAMS FOR WEEK
NFL Games Top Ratings in 27 Local NFL Markets
Beginning with the Thursday night NFL season opener, viewers across the country tuned their televisions to NFL games in impressive numbers last week.
Fox’s doubleheader game on Sunday (mostly Cowboys-Jaguars) was the week’s most-watched show (22.7 million viewers), while the Sunday night opener on NBC (Colts-Giants) ranked second (22.6 million viewers).
NFL games topped the local ratings in 27 of 29 NFL markets*(*New Orleans data excluded by Nielsen).
Following are the NFL markets where football was the top-rated program for the week of September 4-10:
Week of 9/4 - 9/10 HH HH RTG
Market Game Date RTG SHR Rank
Pittsburgh Dolphins @ Steelers 9/7/06 50.5 67 1
Indianapolis Colts @ NY Giants 9/10/06 43.3 58 1
Milwaukee Bears @ Packers 9/10/06 39.1 61 1
Buffalo Bills @ Patriots 9/10/06 37.9 69 1
Dallas Cowboys @ Jaguars 9/10/06 32.2 54 1
Kansas City Bengals @ Chiefs 9/10/06 31.2 57 1
Denver Broncos @ Rams 9/10/06 28.5 59 1
Jacksonville Cowboys @ Jaguars 9/10/06 28.2 45 1
Chicago Bears @ Packers 9/10/06 27.5 50 1
Charlotte Falcons @ Panthers 9/10/06 27.4 51 1
Cincinnati Bengals @ Chiefs 9/10/06 27.1 57 1
Tampa Ravens @ Bucs 9/10/06 26.1 48 1
Philadelphia Eagles @ Texans 9/10/06 25.1 53 1
St. Louis Broncos @ Rams 9/10/06 24.0 49 1
Nashville Colts @ NY Giants 9/10/06 22.4 32 1
Miami Dolphins @ Steelers 9/7/06 22.1 32 1
Boston Bills @ Patriots 9/10/06 21.5 52 1
Seattle Seahawks @ Lions 9/10/06 21.2 49 1
Baltimore Ravens @ Bucs 9/10/06 19.9 43 1
Detroit Seahawks @ Lions 9/10/06 19.1 38 1
Phoenix 49ers @ Cardinals 9/10/06 17.8 33 1
New York Colts @ NY Giants 9/10/06 17.7 26 1
Houston Eagles @ Texans 9/10/06 16.9 33 1
Washington, D.C. Colts @ NY Giants 9/10/06 16.9 27 1
San Diego Colts @ NY Giants 9/10/06 16.6 28 1
San Fran./Oakland 49ers @ Cardinals 9/10/06 15.7 39 1
Minneapolis Dolphins @ Steelers 9/7/06 14.2 25 1
* Local affiliate & ESPN combined
Source: NFL & Nielsen Media Research
Our take:
We can't even begin to decipher that chart.
Bottom line: A lot of people watched a lot of NFL. So be it.