The Studio Show Scorecard for Week of October 14-20

PT Rnk

TD Rnk

Sep Distr.
(000)
PT Vwr
(000)
LW/LY TD Vwr
(000)
TD HH TD Vwr
LW/LY

1

=

1

=

98852

2681

-5%

1226

0.8

+8%

=

=

85%

2681

-3%

1226

+4%

-2%

3

=

2

=

98831

633

-8%

299

0.2

-7%

=

+1

85%

633

+82%

299

-7%

+12%

2

=

3

=

71909

921

-21%

274

0.2

-13%

=

-1

62%

1266

-12%

377

-13%

-9%

4

=

4

=

89180

269

+22%

143

0.1

+2%

=

=

77%

298

+101%

159

+12%

+81%

5

=

5

+2

78412

206

+37%

79

0.0

+28%

+4

+4

68%

260

+348%

100

+37%

+127%

8

+1

6

+2

82736

75

+7%

59

0.0

+5%

-1

+1

71%

90

+15%

70

+5%

+30%

7

-1

7

+2

75774

80

-29%

58

0.0

+5%

-1

-2

65%

104

-11%

75

+9%

+3%

6

+1

8

+2

60168

123

+24%

52

0.0

+1%

-1

-2

52%

202

+7%

86

-0%

-1%

9

-1

9

-4

75568

68

-28%

51

0.0

-27%

n/a

n/a

65%

89

n/a

66

-43%

n/a

10

=

10

-4

71321

33

-15%

40

0.0

-36%

-2

-2

62%

46

-39%

55

-44%

+11%

Before last week, only one show in FS1 history had attracted over a million viewers, or had even managed to better that one show’s prelim card. Now there are four. Sure, one of the four was the truck series race from Talladega, but the other was a fairly pedestrian matchup between Washington State and Oregon that aired late at night on the East Coast and outdrew the UFC prelim card it had as a lead-in. Sure, it threatened an upset, but I get the distinct feeling Boise State-Washington could have done better if it happened now, after last week’s Oregon-Washington game. More to the point, the other college football game FS1 aired this week became the fourth most watched college football game in FS1 history, topping every game not mentioned in this paragraph. That game? Texas Tech, admittedly unbeaten and ranked, against then-3-3 West Virginia.

So, did Oregon-Washington also have spillover effects to FS1’s studio shows? The table below compares the daily studio shows I track last week and this week, as well as a few other weekly shows. I tried to filter out the effects of a NASCAR lead-in, which is why Fox NFL Kickoff isn’t on the list. The results? Most studio shows actually went down this week. Monday’s 1 AM Fox Sports Live episode saw a huge jump which could indicate at least some people tuned in after Monday Night Football, but that and the following 2 AM episode were the only two editions to top 100,000 viewers that didn’t have college football or The Ultimate Fighter as a lead-in. 71,000 people saw FSL last Sunday at 11 PM, a big jump from 23,000 the week before, but that fell to 55,000 this week, though 12:30 went up from 50,000 to 60,000 (and 18,000 the week before). It seems clear to me that, two months in, the panel is still a big turn-off.

*Numbers from two weeks ago

LW

TW

Being: Mike Tyson 159 167
Crowd Goes Wild (least-viewed 4 airings) 48 45
Fox College Saturday 91 69
Fox Football Daily (least-viewed 4 6p ET airings) 32 15
Fox Sports Live 11p (least-viewed 2 weekdays) 35 30
Fox Sports Live midnight (least-viewed 2 weekdays) 27 19
Fox Sports Live 1a (least-viewed 3 weekdays) 16 21
Fox Sports Live 2a (least-viewed 3 weekdays) 12 10
NASCAR RaceDay 244* 375
NASCAR Race Hub (most-viewed 2 4p ET airings) 153 130
UFC Tonight 62* 80
UFC Ultimate Insider 111* 59
The Ultimate Fighter 725 672

All numbers are in thousands of viewers and are from Son of the Bronx.

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Sunday Night Football Flex Scheduling Watch: Week 8

NBC’s Sunday Night Football package gives it flexible scheduling. For the last seven weeks of the season, the games are determined on 12-day notice, 6-day notice for Week 17.

The first year, no game was listed in the Sunday Night slot, only a notation that one game could move there. Now, NBC lists the game it “tentatively” schedules for each night. However, the NFL is in charge of moving games to prime time.

Here are the rules from the NFL web site (note that this was written with the 2007 season in mind, hence why it still says late games start at 4:15 ET instead of 4:25):

  • Begins Sunday of Week 11
  • In effect during Weeks 11-17
  • Only Sunday afternoon games are subject to being moved into the Sunday night window.
  • The game that has been tentatively scheduled for Sunday night during flex weeks will be listed at 8:15 p.m. ET.
  • The majority of games on Sundays will be listed at 1:00 p.m. ET during flex weeks except for games played in Pacific or Mountain Time zones which will be listed at 4:05 or 4:15 p.m. ET.
  • No impact on Thursday, Saturday or Monday night games.
  • The NFL will decide (after consultation with CBS, FOX, NBC) and announce as early as possible the game being played at 8:15 p.m. ET. The announcement will come no later than 12 days prior to the game. The NFL may also announce games moving to 4:05 p.m. ET and 4:15 p.m. ET.
  • Week 17 start time changes could be decided on 6 days notice to ensure a game with playoff implications.
  • The NBC Sunday night time slot in “flex” weeks will list the game that has been tentatively scheduled for Sunday night.
  • Fans and ticket holders must be aware that NFL games in flex weeks are subject to change 12 days in advance (6 days in Week 17) and should plan accordingly.
  • NFL schedules all games.
  • Teams will be informed as soon as they are no longer under consideration or eligible for a move to Sunday night.
  • Rules NOT listed on NFL web site but pertinent to flex schedule selection: CBS and Fox each protect games in five out of six weeks, and cannot protect any games Week 17. Games were protected after Week 4 in 2006 and 2011, because NBC hosted Christmas night games those years and all the other games were moved to Saturday (and so couldn’t be flexed), but are otherwise protected after Week 5.
  • In the past, three teams could appear a maximum of six games in primetime on NBC, ESPN or NFL Network (everyone else gets five) and no team may appear more than four times on NBC. I don’t know how the expansion of the Thursday Night schedule affects this, if it does. No team starts the season completely tapped out at any measure; six teams have five primetime appearances each, but only the 49ers don’t have at least one game that can be flexed out. A list of all teams’ number of appearances is in my Week 5 post.

Here are the current tentatively-scheduled games and my predictions:

Week 11 (November 17):

  • Tentative game: Green Bay @ NY Giants
  • Prospects: 5-2 v. 2-6. A surefire bet to lose its spot under normal circumstances, but the name value and the tire fire that is the NFC East could save it when you consider the competition.
  • Protected games: Chiefs-Broncos (CBS) and 49ers-Saints (FOX).
  • Other possible games: There are no games not involving teams below .500. Chargers-Dolphins and Ravens-Bears come close as two games involving 3-4 teams.
  • Analysis: The Giants are on bye this week, so they will enter the decision time with a win being their most recent game and, thanks to the NFC East tire fire, are currently only two games out of the division lead. Probably the best case scenario for both alternatives is being 6-3 or 5-3 v. 4-4 and Packers-Giants becoming 6-2 or 5-3 v. 2-6 with the Giants two and a half games out of the division lead – and the fact the Chargers are playing in Washington means they can’t really benefit from the Giants having sole possession of last place. I’m not sure that can overcome the tentative game bias given the name value of the teams involved, though since neither team is named the Cowboys I won’t be totally shocked if this game loses its spot.
  • Final prediction: Green Bay Packers @ New York Giants (no change).

Week 12 (November 24):

  • Tentative game: Denver @ New England
  • Prospects: 6-1 v. 5-2 and Manning v. Brady. No force on Earth could budge this game from this spot, which is why both networks chose to leave this week unprotected. (Does the fact Cowboys-Giants wasn’t protected say more about this game, or the NFC East tire fire?)
  • Protected games: None.
  • Other possible games: Chargers-Chiefs and Colts-Cardinals are the main options, but both are pretty lopsided and neither has the appeal of Broncos-Patriots.

Week 13 (December 1):

  • Tentative game: NY Giants @ Washington
  • Prospects: 2-6 v. 2-5. The name value and NFC East tire fire helps, but these are the worse two teams in the division.
  • Protected games: Broncos-Chiefs (CBS) and Bears-Vikings (FOX).
  • Other possible games: Thanksgiving weekend, paucity of good games; Bengals-Chargers is the only remotely good game that’s not protected, but at 6-2 v. 4-3, don’t count it out, especially if the Chargers start climbing into wild card contention. Can it overcome the lack of name value?

Week 14 (December 8):

  • Tentative game: Atlanta @ Green Bay
  • Prospects: 2-5 v. 5-2. Doesn’t look good.
  • Protected games: Colts-Bengals (CBS) and Seahawks-49ers (FOX).
  • Other possible games: Panthers-Saints is the only game not involving a team below .500, but it too has a pretty good shot at 6-1 v. 4-3; lopsidedness is the main factor against it, but it’s only a two-game difference, Drew Brees and Cam Newton bring name value, the Panthers are third in the wild card race, and unlike the NFC East teams, the Falcons aren’t still alive for a playoff spot in a tire fire of a division (both Panthers and Saints are in the same division).

Week 15 (December 15):

  • Tentative game: Cincinnati @ Pittsburgh
  • Prospects: If I told you before the season that this game would be 6-2 v. 2-5 after Week 8, and you didn’t have the bye week schedule on hand, would you have ever guessed that the Steelers would be the 2-5 team?
  • Protected games: Packers-Cowboys (FOX) and Patriots-Dolphins (CBS).
  • Other possible games: Jets-Panthers is the only game not involving a team below .500, and it’s pretty uninspiring. Cardinals-Titans and Chiefs-Raiders are the biggest dark horses.

Week 16 (December 22):

  • Tentative game: New England @ Baltimore
  • Prospects: 6-2 v. 3-4; might become pretty lopsided, but even then the name value could save it and the Pats might be playing worse than their record anyway.
  • Protected games: Broncos-Texans (CBS) and Cowboys-Indians (FOX).
  • Other possible games: Very surprised CBS chose to protect Broncos-Texans, a game involving a team that was 2-3 and in a tailspin at the time (and hasn’t won since), instead of Colts-Chiefs, two teams now leading their respective divisions and with two losses between them. Perhaps CBS had its eye more on getting Pats-Ravens back. Saints-Panthers is also an option if Colts-Chiefs collapses, and Cardinals-Seahawks is climbing.

Week 17 (December 29):

  • Playoff positioning watch begins Week 9, but let’s face it, this is probably going to be an NFC East title game, which means more likely than not it’s going to be Eagles-Cowboys.

Sports Ratings Report from the Last Two Months

This isn’t going to be a regular thing, I’m just catching up from the last month or so of sports ratings reports I missed for various reasons. I have zero numbers for anything other than college football or golf from the Saturday and Sunday of Labor Day weekend, so from now on the Top 20 Most-Viewed charts are going to be Top 10 Most-Viewed charts, because even then I’m not completely optimistic that Sunday’s US Open coverage, which had a 1.6 overnight, didn’t sneak in. (Monday’s coverage did get adjusted down two-tenths, though, so maybe it didn’t threaten so much.) This also means the sports ratings highlights are going to be substantially more limited in scope.

Oregon-Washington accomplished its goal, sort of, becoming the second most-watched program in FS1 history, indeed only the second FS1 program to top a million viewers and coming within a hair’s breadth of toppling , the UFC card from launch night. But that doesn’t mean Fox didn’t goof up when they moved the game to FS1 to begin with, even after another game involving Oregon against a Washington school also topped a million viewers this past weekend.

As this post explains, moving Oregon-Washington to FS1 wound up costing Fox Stanford-UCLA the following week, another game between ranked teams but one it actually had reason to move to FS1, to clear Fox’s schedule for the uncertainty of when the ALCS game would be on. That game ended up being half of an ABC/ESPN2 reverse mirror instead, and now Fox has to put the Pac-12 on broadcast all four weeks that have yet to be scheduled this season.

At the time the October 12 schedule was finalized, Oregon/Washington pitted v. #15, while Stanford/UCLA pitted #5 against #12. So the average ranking of both games was the same, and Oregon/Washington was a bitter rivalry showcasing the exciting national-title-contending Ducks, but Stanford-UCLA was closer (and thus promised to be a more exciting contest) and would bring in the valuable Los Angeles and Bay Area markets as opposed to the smaller Pacific Northwest markets. So Stanford-UCLA could have had the exact same effect as Oregon-Washington, just a week later, maybe even topping that opening-night UFC card, for reasons other than just propping up the network, and Fox and the Pac-12 had to know at least that last part well before the season, certainly by the point that Fox was considering moving Oregon-Washington to FS1.

And the kicker? Fox needs to build its broadcast network as a college football destination too!

Top 10 Most-Viewed Programs in Fox Sports 1 History (through October 13)

   

Vwr (mil) 

HH 

18-49 

Time 

1 

UFC Fight Night: Shogun v. Sonnen

1.782 

1.0 

 

8/17 8:00 PM 

2 

CFB: Oregon @ Washington

1.765 

1.0 

  

10/12 4:00 PM 

3 

UFC Fight Night Prelims

0.881 

0.5 

 

8/17 6:00 PM 

4 

The Ultimate Fighter 18, Women’s Qtrs:
Ladies First (Bazler v. Pena)

0.87 

0.6 

0.5

9/11 10:00 PM

5 

CFB: Washington State @ USC

0.825 

0.5 

  

9/7 10:30 PM 

6 

UFC Fight Night: Condit v. Kampmann 2

0.824 

0.5 

0.4

8/28 8:00 PM 

7 

UFC 164 Prelims

0.809 

0.5 

 

8/31 8:00 PM 

8 

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series:
EnjoyIllinois.com 225

0.791 

0.5 

  

9/13 8:31 PM

9 

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series:
Michigan National Guard 200

0.783 

0.6 

  

8/17 12:31 PM 

10 

The Ultimate Fighter 18, Women’s Qtrs:
Use the Force (Modafferi v. Rakoczy)

0.778 

0.5 

0.5

9/25 10:00 PM 

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The Studio Show Scorecard for Week of October 7-13

PT Rnk

TD Rnk

Sep Distr.
(000)
PT Vwr
(000)
LW/LY TD Vwr
(000)
TD HH TD Vwr
LW/LY

1

=

1

=

98852

2817

-5%

1136

0.8

-9%

=

=

85%

2817

-13%

1136

-5%

-0%

3

=

2

+1

98831

685

+50%

321

0.2

+14%

=

+1

85%

685

+59%

321

+10%

+23%

2

=

3

-1

71909

1165

+13%

315

0.2

-10%

=

-1

62%

1602

+34%

433

-8%

+17%

4

+1

4

+3

89180

221

0%

141

0.1

+37%

+1

+1

77%

245

+157%

156

+35%

+101%

8

-2

5

+1

75568

94

-53%

69

0.0

-35%

n/a

n/a

65%

123

n/a

90

-43%

n/a

10

=

6

+2

71321

39

-15%

62

0.0

+3%

-1

-2

62%

54

-15%

86

+8%

-14%

5

-1

7

-2

78412

150

-49%

62

0.0

-42%

+2

+1

68%

189

+121%

78

-56%

+51%

9

-2

8

-4

82736

70

-55%

56

0.0

-63%

-1

=

71%

84

+25%

67

-74%

+36%

6

+2

9

=

75774

113

+31%

55

0.0

-2%

=

-3

65%

147

+59%

72

+16%

-6%

7

+2

10

=

60168

99

+41%

52

0.0

+35%

-3

-3

52%

163

-2%

85

+71%

-9%

At least ten different programs in Fuel history topped 200,000 viewers, just about all of them in January 2012 and later. That’s an average of about one every two months. We’re coming up on two months since Fuel was rebranded as FS2, and not only has not one program managed to top 200,000 viewers in that time, there’s not much in the way of prospects for anything to achieve that mark, despite the broader array of programming the rebrand has brought to FS2.

The reason for that? All the UFC programming that previously inhabited FS2 has moved to FS1. FS2 is no longer home to Wednesday UFC cards and European cards – those are now airing on FS1 whenever possible. NASCAR practice and qualifying have attracted decent numbers, as has, surprisingly enough, Australian Rules Football, but the best programming is always going to be on FS1, and combined with FS2’s extremely limited distribution that makes it highly unlikely that anything on FS2 is going to top 200,000 viewers in the near future, though we’ll see what happens with the Big East basketball games being shuffled there.

Does this mean Fox didn’t have enough programming for a second channel at launch? Maybe, maybe not – certainly FS2 was as much as anything about the hope that Fox would eventually have enough inventory to warrant a second channel (as well as being a short-term escape valve). But I can’t help but think all parties would have been better off if, say, Fox Soccer had been rebranded as FS2 and Fuel had become a NASCAR or motorsports-oriented network. Certainly it would have helped quiet the loud complaining from Speed fans.

All numbers are in thousands of viewers and are from Son of the Bronx.

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Sunday Night Football Flex Scheduling Watch: Week 7

NBC’s Sunday Night Football package gives it flexible scheduling. For the last seven weeks of the season, the games are determined on 12-day notice, 6-day notice for Week 17.

The first year, no game was listed in the Sunday Night slot, only a notation that one game could move there. Now, NBC lists the game it “tentatively” schedules for each night. However, the NFL is in charge of moving games to prime time.

Here are the rules from the NFL web site (note that this was written with the 2007 season in mind, hence why it still says late games start at 4:15 ET instead of 4:25):

  • Begins Sunday of Week 11
  • In effect during Weeks 11-17
  • Only Sunday afternoon games are subject to being moved into the Sunday night window.
  • The game that has been tentatively scheduled for Sunday night during flex weeks will be listed at 8:15 p.m. ET.
  • The majority of games on Sundays will be listed at 1:00 p.m. ET during flex weeks except for games played in Pacific or Mountain Time zones which will be listed at 4:05 or 4:15 p.m. ET.
  • No impact on Thursday, Saturday or Monday night games.
  • The NFL will decide (after consultation with CBS, FOX, NBC) and announce as early as possible the game being played at 8:15 p.m. ET. The announcement will come no later than 12 days prior to the game. The NFL may also announce games moving to 4:05 p.m. ET and 4:15 p.m. ET.
  • Week 17 start time changes could be decided on 6 days notice to ensure a game with playoff implications.
  • The NBC Sunday night time slot in “flex” weeks will list the game that has been tentatively scheduled for Sunday night.
  • Fans and ticket holders must be aware that NFL games in flex weeks are subject to change 12 days in advance (6 days in Week 17) and should plan accordingly.
  • NFL schedules all games.
  • Teams will be informed as soon as they are no longer under consideration or eligible for a move to Sunday night.
  • Rules NOT listed on NFL web site but pertinent to flex schedule selection: CBS and Fox each protect games in five out of six weeks, and cannot protect any games Week 17. Games were protected after Week 4 in 2006 and 2011, because NBC hosted Christmas night games those years and all the other games were moved to Saturday (and so couldn’t be flexed), but are otherwise protected after Week 5.
  • In the past, three teams could appear a maximum of six games in primetime on NBC, ESPN or NFL Network (everyone else gets five) and no team may appear more than four times on NBC. I don’t know how the expansion of the Thursday Night schedule affects this, if it does. No team starts the season completely tapped out at any measure; six teams have five primetime appearances each, but only the 49ers don’t have at least one game that can be flexed out. A list of all teams’ number of appearances is in my Week 5 post.

Here are the current tentatively-scheduled games and my predictions:

Week 11 (November 17):

  • Tentative game: Green Bay @ NY Giants
  • Prospects: 4-2 v. 1-6. A surefire bet to lose its spot under normal circumstances, but the name value and the tire fire that is the NFC East could save it when you consider the competition.
  • Protected games: Chiefs-Broncos (CBS) and 49ers-Saints (FOX).
  • Other possible games: Right now Chargers-Dolphins is the only game available not involving a team below .500. Ravens-Bears, Browns-Bengals, and Jets-Bills are the next game to watch. Ravens-Bears is really the “least bad” of the bunch. The Giants may only need to pick up a second win for this game to pretty much be assured of keeping its spot.

Week 12 (November 24):

  • Tentative game: Denver @ New England
  • Prospects: 6-1 v. 5-2 and Manning v. Brady. No force on Earth could budge this game from this spot, which is why both networks chose to leave this week unprotected. (Does the fact Cowboys-Giants wasn’t protected say more about this game, or the NFC East tire fire?
  • Protected games: None.
  • Other possible games: Another Chargers game is the only one not to involve a team at or below .500, and it has the opposite problem: it’s against the Chiefs, making it 7-0 v. 4-3. The next option is the battle of 3-3 teams in Panthers-Dolphins. Yeah. This game ain’t budging.

Week 13 (December 1):

  • Tentative game: NY Giants @ Washington
  • Prospects: 1-6 v. 2-4. The name value and NFC East tire fire helps, but these are the worse two teams in the division.
  • Protected games: Broncos-Chiefs (CBS) and Bears-Vikings (FOX).
  • Other possible games: Thanksgiving weekend, paucity of good games, but color me surprised that Fox chose to protect a game involving a 1-4 Vikings team over Cardinals-Eagles (a battle of 3-3 teams but with importance in the NFC East tire fire); does it even have that much more name value? Oh wait, Adrian Peterson. Never mind. (Cowboys-Giants, and the NFC East in general, must REALLY suck for this to not be Fox’s unprotected week.) It may not matter, as Bears-Vikings currently has one more team above .500; the best options at the moment are Dolphins-Jets and Bengals-Chargers.

Week 14 (December 8):

  • Tentative game: Atlanta @ Green Bay
  • Prospects: 2-4 v. 4-2. Doesn’t look good at first glance, but look at the alternatives and it shouldn’t be counted out for keeping its spot.
  • Protected games: Colts-Bengals (CBS) and Seahawks-49ers (FOX).
  • Other possible games: Panthers-Saints is the only game not involving a team below .500. Browns-Patriots, Titans-Broncos, and Lions-Eagles are next on the list, followed by Rams-Cardinals.

Week 15 (December 15):

  • Tentative game: Cincinnati @ Pittsburgh
  • Prospects: If I told you before the season that this game would be 5-2 v. 2-4 after Week 7, and you didn’t have the bye week schedule on hand, would you have ever guessed that the Steelers would be the 2-4 team?
  • Protected games: Packers-Cowboys (FOX) and Patriots-Dolphins (CBS).
  • Other possible games: Jets-Panthers is the only game not involving a team below .500. Bears-Browns and Saints-Rams are next on the list, followed by Cardinals-Titans. Don’t see anything compelling enough for this game to give up its spot.

Week 16 (December 22):

  • Tentative game: New England @ Baltimore
  • Prospects: 5-2 v. 3-4; might become pretty lopsided, but even then the name value could save it and the Pats might be playing worse than their record anyway.
  • Protected games: Broncos-Texans (CBS) and Cowboys-Indians (FOX).
  • Other possible games: Very surprised CBS chose to protect Broncos-Texans, a game involving a team that was 2-3 and in a tailspin at the time (and hasn’t won since), instead of Colts-Chiefs, two teams now leading their respective divisions and with two losses between them. Perhaps CBS had its eye more on getting Pats-Ravens back. Saints-Panthers is also an option if Colts-Chiefs collapses.

Week 17 (December 29):

  • Playoff positioning watch begins Week 9, but let’s face it, this is probably going to be an NFC East title game, which means more likely than not it’s going to be Eagles-Cowboys.

The Studio Show Scorecard for Week of September 30-October 6

PT Rnk

TD Rnk

Sep Distr.
(000)
PT Vwr
(000)
LW/LY TD Vwr
(000)
TD HH TD Vwr
LW/LY

1

=

1

=

98852

2975

-7%

1242

0.8

-4%

=

=

85%

2975

-18%

1242

-5%

-10%

2

=

2

=

71909

1027

-16%

348

0.2

-1%

=

+1

62%

1412

+4%

479

-2%

+23%

3

=

3

=

98831

456

-28%

282

0.2

-9%

=

-1

85%

456

+25%

282

-10%

-1%

7

+2

4

+5

82736

155

+135%

151

0.1

+241%

+1

+3

71%

185

+177%

181

+317%

+222%

4

+4

5

+3

78412

294

+268%

107

0.1

+69%

+3

+4

68%

371

+382%

135

+98%

+234%

6

-1

6

-2

75568

202

-5%

105

0.1

+4%

n/a

n/a

65%

264

n/a

138

+4%

n/a

5

-1

7

-2

89180

221

-16%

103

0.1

+21%

=

-3

77%

245

+94%

114

+7%

-13%

10

-4

8

-2

71321

46

-69%

60

0.0

-14%

-6

-3

62%

64

-74%

84

-30%

-46%

8

-1

9

-2

75774

86

-13%

56

0.0

-20%

-2

-3

65%

112

-1%

73

-39%

-8%

9

+1

10

=

60168

70

+52%

39

0.0

+48%

=

-2

52%

115

+40%

63

+1%

Surprisingly, FS1 has reversed course on the “Fox Football Daily reair at midnight” experiment. I say surprisingly because FFD has not only beaten Fox Sports Live in the same time slot (although Saturday editions of FSL have done well), but has beaten the first-run airings of FFD they’re re-airing. I don’t see any appreciable improvement in first-run FFD episodes over the course of the experiment, and in fact those first-run airings may have slipped a little this week, which may be a big factor in the reversal of course, but if so not a good reason to do so. Perhaps the folks at Fox saw how they weren’t showing confidence in FSL barely a month out of the gate, perhaps they decided they needed to air FSL as much as possible to get as many eyeballs on it as possible, or maybe it was always a way to goose FSL ratings or get more eyeballs on FFD (in the latter case, it may have backfired).

All numbers are in thousands of viewers and are from Son of the Bronx.

Read more

Sunday Night Football Flex Scheduling Watch: Week 6

NBC’s Sunday Night Football package gives it flexible scheduling. For the last seven weeks of the season, the games are determined on 12-day notice, 6-day notice for Week 17.

The first year, no game was listed in the Sunday Night slot, only a notation that one game could move there. Now, NBC lists the game it “tentatively” schedules for each night. However, the NFL is in charge of moving games to prime time.

Here are the rules from the NFL web site (note that this was written with the 2007 season in mind, hence why it still says late games start at 4:15 ET instead of 4:25):

  • Begins Sunday of Week 11
  • In effect during Weeks 11-17
  • Only Sunday afternoon games are subject to being moved into the Sunday night window.
  • The game that has been tentatively scheduled for Sunday night during flex weeks will be listed at 8:15 p.m. ET.
  • The majority of games on Sundays will be listed at 1:00 p.m. ET during flex weeks except for games played in Pacific or Mountain Time zones which will be listed at 4:05 or 4:15 p.m. ET.
  • No impact on Thursday, Saturday or Monday night games.
  • The NFL will decide (after consultation with CBS, FOX, NBC) and announce as early as possible the game being played at 8:15 p.m. ET. The announcement will come no later than 12 days prior to the game. The NFL may also announce games moving to 4:05 p.m. ET and 4:15 p.m. ET.
  • Week 17 start time changes could be decided on 6 days notice to ensure a game with playoff implications.
  • The NBC Sunday night time slot in “flex” weeks will list the game that has been tentatively scheduled for Sunday night.
  • Fans and ticket holders must be aware that NFL games in flex weeks are subject to change 12 days in advance (6 days in Week 17) and should plan accordingly.
  • NFL schedules all games.
  • Teams will be informed as soon as they are no longer under consideration or eligible for a move to Sunday night.
  • Rules NOT listed on NFL web site but pertinent to flex schedule selection: CBS and Fox each protect games in five out of six weeks, and cannot protect any games Week 17. Games were protected after Week 4 in 2006 and 2011, because NBC hosted Christmas night games those years and all the other games were moved to Saturday (and so couldn’t be flexed), but are otherwise protected after Week 5.
  • In the past, three teams could appear a maximum of six games in primetime on NBC, ESPN or NFL Network (everyone else gets five) and no team may appear more than four times on NBC. I don’t know how the expansion of the Thursday Night schedule affects this, if it does. No team starts the season completely tapped out at any measure; six teams have five primetime appearances each, but only the 49ers don’t have at least one game that can be flexed out. A list of all teams’ number of appearances is in my Week 5 post.

Here are the current tentatively-scheduled games and my predictions:

Week 11 (November 17):

  • Tentative game: Green Bay @ NY Giants
  • Prospects: 3-2 v. 0-6. A surefire bet to lose its spot under normal circumstances, but the name value and the tire fire that is the NFC East could save it when you consider the competition.
  • Protected games: Chiefs-Broncos (CBS) and 49ers-Saints (FOX).
  • Other possible games: Browns-Bengals and Ravens-Bears are the best games available at 4-2 v. 3-3, and Browns-Bengals sorely lacks name value. Ravens-Bears is possible, but seems iffy. Chargers-Dolphins also in the mix but suffers the same problem as Browns-Bengals, only more so.

Week 12 (November 24):

  • Tentative game: Denver @ New England
  • Prospects: 6-0 v. 5-1 and Manning v. Brady. No force on Earth could budge this game from this spot, which is why both networks chose to leave this week unprotected. (Does the fact Cowboys-Giants wasn’t protected say more about this game, or the NFC East tire fire?
  • Protected games: None.
  • Other possible games: Even with no protections whatsoever, Colts-Cardinals and Bears-Rams are your best games available, unless you consider Chargers-Chiefs to be insufficiently lopsided to rule out. Yeah. This game ain’t budging.

Week 13 (December 1):

  • Tentative game: NY Giants @ Washington
  • Prospects: 0-6 v. 1-3. The name value and NFC East tire fire helps, but these are the worse two teams in the division.
  • Protected games: Broncos-Chiefs (CBS) and Bears-Vikings (FOX).
  • Other possible games: Thanksgiving weekend, paucity of good games, but color me surprised that Fox chose to protect a game involving a 1-4 Vikings team over Cardinals-Eagles (a battle of 3-3 teams but with importance in the NFC East tire fire); does it even have that much more name value? Oh wait, Adrian Peterson. Never mind. (Cowboys-Giants, and the NFC East in general, must REALLY suck for this to not be Fox’s unprotected week.) Indeed, Cardinals-Eagles is a dark horse at best; the best options are Titans-Colts, Dolphins-Jets, Rams-49ers, and Bengals-Chargers. NBC better hope the tentative improves or one of these matchups (or one not listed here) starts looking a lot better or it’ll be in big trouble.

Week 14 (December 8):

  • Tentative game: Atlanta @ Green Bay
  • Prospects: 1-4 v. 3-2. Doesn’t look good at first glance, but look at the alternatives and it shouldn’t be counted out for keeping its spot.
  • Protected games: Colts-Bengals (CBS) and Seahawks-49ers (FOX).
  • Other possible games: Browns-Patriots, Titans-Broncos, Lions-Eagles – all games involving 3-3 teams and with only half the matchup providing name value at best. Rams-Cardinals is a dark horse.

Week 15 (December 15):

  • Tentative game: Cincinnati @ Pittsburgh
  • Prospects: If I told you before the season that this game would pit a team with four wins after Week 6 against a team with four losses, would you have ever guessed that the Steelers would be the team with the losses?
  • Protected games: Packers-Cowboys (FOX) and Patriots-Dolphins (CBS).
  • Other possible games: Saints-Rams is lopsided, Bears-Browns is mediocre, and Cardinals-Titans is a matchup of 3-3 teams. Don’t see anything compelling enough for this game to give up its spot.

Week 16 (December 22):

  • Tentative game: New England @ Baltimore
  • Prospects: 5-1 v. 3-3; might become pretty lopsided, but even then the name value could save it and the Pats might be playing worse than their record anyway.
  • Protected games: Broncos-Texans (CBS) and Cowboys-Indians (FOX).
  • Other possible games: Very surprised CBS chose to protect Broncos-Texans, a game involving a team that was 2-3 and in a tailspin at the time (and lost to the Rams after that), instead of Colts-Chiefs, two teams currently with at least a share of the lead in their respective divisions and two losses between them. Perhaps CBS had its eye more on getting Pats-Ravens back. Bears-Eagles and Cardinals-Seahawks are also options.

Week 17 (December 29):

  • Playoff positioning watch begins Week 9, but let’s face it, this is probably going to be an NFC East title game, which means more likely than not it’s going to be Eagles-Cowboys.

The Studio Show Scorecard for Week of September 23-29

PT Rnk

TD Rnk

Sep Dist
(000)
PT Vwr
(000)
LW/LY TD Vwr
(000)
TD HH TD Vwr
LW/LY

1

=

1

=

98,852

3212

-5%

1298

0.9

-1%

=

=

85%

3212

+2%

1298

-1%

-10%

2

=

2

=

71,909

1226

-12%

351

0.2

-10%

=

=

62%

1685

-2%

482

-8%

-1%

3

=

3

=

98,831

632

+12%

311

0.2

+1%

=

=

85%

632

+26%

311

+2%

-4%

5

+3

4

+1

75,568

212

+51%

102

0.1

+4%

n/a

n/a

65%

277

n/a

133

-3%

n/a

4

+1

5

+1

89,180

263

+31%

85

0.1

-3%

+2

-1

77%

292

+71%

94

+15%

-6%

6

=

6

+3

71,321

149

-24%

70

0.0

-5%

-2

=

62%

207

-28%

98

+1%

-2%

7

-3

7

+1

75,774

99

-52%

70

0.0

-15%

=

=

65%

129

-18%

92

-24%

+1%

8

+1

8

-1

78,412

80

+25%

63

0.0

-27%

=

=

68%

101

-1%

80

-34%

+59%

9

-2

9

-5

82,736

66

-62%

44

0.0

-71%

-4

-4

71%

79

-62%

53

-77%

-48%

10

=

10

=

60,168

46

-22%

26

0.0

-1%

-1

-1

52%

76

+10%

43

-76%

+4%

I’ve changed the look of the chart at right again to incorporate the year-ago numbers, but I’m not quite sure about how it looks. The layout is fine, but you might see me tinker with the border arrangements for the next few installments. I’m also not sure whether or not the chart is now so wide that it would be better for me to put it in the normal sequence rather than stashed off to the side; on some resolutions that may already have been the case.

The distribution numbers are okay now, but in the future they’re likely to be a month or even two behind because they’re coming from Sports Business Daily and, like their ratings reports, they’re behind the paywall for the first month. The numbers in gray below the raw numbers are the “ESPN-sized distribution” numbers. The comparisons are to last week on the top row and last year on the bottom row; the gray year-ago comparisons for FS1 indicate that they’re being compared to Speed, and the same would be the case for FS2 and Fuel if it ever makes the top 10 before August 2014 (ha!). The household ratings are compared just to last week below the raw number so I don’t have to go back and calculate it for every network (and at this point in time I’d only be able to make those comparisons for ESPN and ESPN2).

All numbers are in thousands of viewers and are from Son of the Bronx.

Read more

Sunday Night Football Flex Scheduling Watch: Week 5

NBC’s Sunday Night Football package gives it flexible scheduling. For the last seven weeks of the season, the games are determined on 12-day notice, 6-day notice for Week 17.

The first year, no game was listed in the Sunday Night slot, only a notation that one game could move there. Now, NBC lists the game it “tentatively” schedules for each night. However, the NFL is in charge of moving games to prime time.

Here are the rules from the NFL web site (note that this was written with the 2007 season in mind, hence why it still says late games start at 4:15 ET instead of 4:25):

  • Begins Sunday of Week 11
  • In effect during Weeks 11-17
  • Only Sunday afternoon games are subject to being moved into the Sunday night window.
  • The game that has been tentatively scheduled for Sunday night during flex weeks will be listed at 8:15 p.m. ET.
  • The majority of games on Sundays will be listed at 1:00 p.m. ET during flex weeks except for games played in Pacific or Mountain Time zones which will be listed at 4:05 or 4:15 p.m. ET.
  • No impact on Thursday, Saturday or Monday night games.
  • The NFL will decide (after consultation with CBS, FOX, NBC) and announce as early as possible the game being played at 8:15 p.m. ET. The announcement will come no later than 12 days prior to the game. The NFL may also announce games moving to 4:05 p.m. ET and 4:15 p.m. ET.
  • Week 17 start time changes could be decided on 6 days notice to ensure a game with playoff implications.
  • The NBC Sunday night time slot in “flex” weeks will list the game that has been tentatively scheduled for Sunday night.
  • Fans and ticket holders must be aware that NFL games in flex weeks are subject to change 12 days in advance (6 days in Week 17) and should plan accordingly.
  • NFL schedules all games.
  • Teams will be informed as soon as they are no longer under consideration or eligible for a move to Sunday night.
  • Rules NOT listed on NFL web site but pertinent to flex schedule selection: CBS and Fox each protect games in five out of six weeks, and cannot protect any games Week 17. Games were protected after Week 4 in 2006 and 2011, because NBC hosted Christmas night games those years and all the other games were moved to Saturday (and so couldn’t be flexed), but are otherwise protected after Week 5.
  • In the past, three teams could appear a maximum of six games in primetime on NBC, ESPN or NFL Network (everyone else gets five) and no team may appear more than four times on NBC. I don’t know how the expansion of the Thursday Night schedule affects this, if it does. No team starts the season completely tapped out at any measure; six teams have five primetime appearances each, but only the 49ers don’t have at least one game that can be flexed out. Due to the unique circumstances I’m assuming Sunday’s Chargers-Raiders game doesn’t count as a primetime appearance. NBC appearances for all teams: BAL 3 (1 flexible), DEN 3 (1 flexible), NYG 3 (2 flexible), DAL 3, SF 2, SEA 1, CHI 1, PIT 3 (1 flexible), NE 3 (2 flexible), ATL 2 (1 flexible), HOU 2, WAS 2 (1 flexible), IND 2, GB 3 (2 flexible), MIN 1, NO 1, CIN 1 (flexible). All primetime appearances for all teams: BAL 4 (1 flexible), DEN 5 (1 flexible), NYG 5 (2 flexible), DAL 4, SF 5, SEA 4, CHI 4, PIT 4 (1 flexible), NE 5 (2 flexible), ATL 5 (1 flexible), HOU 4, WAS 5 (1 flexible), IND 4, GB 4 (2 flexible), MIN 3, NO 4, CIN 3 (1 flexible), PHI 2, SD 3, MIA 3, NYJ 2, STL 2, TB 2, CAR 2, all other teams 1.

Here are the current tentatively-scheduled games and my predictions:

Week 11 (November 17):

  • Tentative game: Green Bay @ NY Giants
  • Prospects: 2-2 v. 0-5. A surefire bet to lose its spot under normal circumstances, but the name value and the tire fire that is the NFC East could save it when you consider the competition.
  • Likely protections: Chiefs-Broncos (CBS) and 49ers-Saints (FOX).
  • Other possible games: Browns-Bengals is the only remaining game involving two teams above .500. Maybe Jets-Bills, Chargers-Dolphins, or even Raiders-Texans can make a game of it, but none of those are particularly appetizing. Look for NBC to be stuck with Packers-Giants.

Week 12 (November 24):

  • Tentative game: Denver @ New England
  • Prospects: 5-0 v. 4-1 and Manning v. Brady. No force on Earth could budge this game from this spot. This could be a week that CBS especially decides to leave unprotected.
  • Likely protections: Colts-Cardinals if anything (CBS) and Cowboys-Giants if anything (FOX).
  • Other possible games: Colts-Cardinals is the only game involving two teams above .500, making Broncos-Patriots even more of a mortal lock.

Week 13 (December 1):

  • Tentative game: NY Giants @ Washington
  • Prospects: 0-5 v. 1-3. The name value and NFC East tire fire helps, but these are the worse two teams in the division.
  • Likely protections: Broncos-Chiefs (CBS) and Cardinals-Eagles but more likely nothing (FOX).
  • Other possible games: Thanksgiving weekend, paucity of good games, but Titans-Colts awaits if the Titans really are an above-.500 team, as does Dolphins-Jets.

Week 14 (December 8):

  • Tentative game: Atlanta @ Green Bay
  • Prospects: 1-4 v. 2-2. Not looking good.
  • Likely protections: Colts-Bengals, Browns-Patriots, Titans-Broncos, or nothing (CBS) and Seahawks-49ers (FOX).
  • Other possible games: Pretty much whatever games CBS didn’t protect. Raiders-Jets and Rams-Cardinals are dark horses.

Week 15 (December 15):

  • Tentative game: Cincinnati @ Pittsburgh
  • Prospects: If I told you before the season that this game would be 3-2 v. 0-4 after Week 5, and you didn’t have the bye week schedule on hand, would you have ever guessed that the Steelers would be the 0-4 team?
  • Likely protections: Cardinals-Titans, Bears-Browns, Packers-Cowboys, or nothing (FOX) and Patriots-Dolphins (CBS).
  • Other possible games: Again, pretty much whatever games Fox didn’t protect, with the caveat that I listed Packers-Cowboys for name value as much as anything.

Week 16 (December 22):

  • Tentative game: New England @ Baltimore
  • Prospects: 4-1 v. 3-2, so a pretty respectable matchup with a good chance to keep its spot.
  • Likely protections: Colts-Chiefs (CBS) and Cardinals-Seahawks or Cowboys-Indians (FOX).
  • Other possible games: Cardinals-Seahawks if left unprotected, and that’s about it. I doubt that threatens Pats-Ravens.

Week 17 (December 29):

  • Playoff positioning watch begins Week 9, but let’s face it, this is probably going to be an NFC East title game, which means more likely than not it’s going to be Eagles-Cowboys.

The Studio Show Scorecard for Week of September 16-22

PT
Rnk
TD
Rnk
PT Vwr
(000)
PT/
ESPN
TD Vwr
(000)
TD HH TD/
ESPN

1

1

3387

3387

1306

0.9

1306

=

=

-20%

-18%

-16%

0.9

2

2

1393

1920

390

0.3

538

=

=

+6%

+3%

+2%

0.4

3

3

562

562

308

0.2

308

=

=

-11%

-9%

-7%

0.2

7

4

175

208

152

0.1

181

+2

=

+80%

+31%

+37%

0.1

8

5

140

184

98

0.1

129

-2

+2

-8%

+26%

+32%

0.1

5

6

201

220

88

0.0

96

-1

-1

-33%

-19%

-29%

0.1

9

7

64

80

87

0.0

109

-2

+2

-36%

+29%

+30%

0.1

4

8

207

271

83

0.1

109

+4

=

+109%

+17%

-3%

0.1

6

9

196

273

75

0.0

104

-1

-3

-17%

-9%

-14%

0.1

10

10

59

97

26

0.0

43

=

=

+59%

+34%

0.0

Yes, I’m aware I’m a week late with this. Here’s the thing: I’m not sure what role these posts actually have to play in the larger context of the site. I started the Studio Show Scorecard as a sports equivalent of the cable news scorecards regularly put up by TVNewser, and as such I pinned my hopes more on them to actually catch on and become popular. But while I’ve streamlined the process of creating them much more than I did when I first broached the idea, it’s still very tedious; stuff like Quick Pitch and Olbermann in late night are the worst because it’s not always clear what time slot to list them under when they get knocked off sequence.

Not that I don’t find these posts useful in their own way, but I consider the Sports Ratings Reports more useful just for me, even if a lot of what’s on them is fairly often repeated elsewhere, especially Sports Media Watch; the real payoff for them will come at the end of the year when I have a big blowout of the top-rated sports events that’s more comprehensive and balanced than what SMW will have at the same time. The fact that the SSS comes entirely from a single source, even if Son of the Bronx’s tables are very raw and the scorecards help organize them in a more comprehensible fashion, doesn’t help when sports sites like Awful Announcing discover SotB themselves and do analysis directly off it.

I really want one of these posts to catch on enough that my ad revenue gets boosted enough that I can afford an subscription to Sports Business Daily (at $120 a month!) so I don’t have to wait a month for the Top 20 Most-Watched Sports Events and I can make that the entire Sports Ratings Report, but I’m not sure what’s the best road to get there. In the meantime, I hope to take care of two weeks in a single Sports Ratings Report post later in the week.

Meanwhile, it’s probably not a good sign for Fox Sports Live that none of the three or four times it aired at midnight the first week it was normally bumped at that time for a Fox Football Daily re-air did better than any of the three Fox Football Daily re-airs.

All numbers are in thousands of viewers and are from Son of the Bronx.

Approx. 6-10 AM ET

Mon

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

ESPN: SportsCenter (6-9 avg.) 746 715 582 427 578
ESPN2: Mike and Mike 227 270 218 247 281
FS1: Fox Sports Live (6-9 avg.) 22 7 9 8 17
GOLF: Morning Drive (7-9 avg.) 56 28 27 35 65
NFLN: NFLAM 116 108 107 116 226
MLBN: Quick Pitch (6-9 avg.) 27 27 27 38 23

morganwick.com

Approx. 9 AM-Noon ET

Mon

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

ESPN:   SportsCenter (9-12 avg.) 697 505 409 449 445
ESPN2: First Take (10-12) 416 378 405 392 381
FS1: Fox Sports Live (9-12 avg.) 21 25 14 16 24
GOLF:   Morning Drive (9-11 avg.) 83‡ 28 51‡ n/a n/a
NBCSN: The Dan Patrick Show 27 26 21 40 28†
ESPNEWS: Mike and Mike (10-1) 41 46 27 46 n/a
ESPNU: The Herd (10-1) 62 41 50 44 65
NFLN: NFLAM (10-2) 166 73 113 99 201
MLBN: Quick Pitch (9-1 avg.) 18 15 49 33* 24

*9-12 average only
†11 AM hour only; 9 AM half-hour before Formula 1 practice had 33,000 viewers
‡9-10 only due to other programming

3 PM ET

Mon

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

ESPN: NFL Insiders 564 502† 577 404 532
ESPN2: SportsNation 215 137 169 254 163
ESPNEWS: SportsCenter 48 59 70 47 31
ESPNU: CFB Daily 51 65* 42 55 95
MLBN: The Rundown (2-4) 16 24 32 30‡ 21

*First-run rating for The Experts 1-2:30; 2:30-4 re-air had 50,000 viewers
†Aired from 3-3:30; Mike and Mike’s Best of the NFL 3:30-4 had 560,000 viewers
‡Aired 1-4

4 PM ET

Mon

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

ESPN: NFL Live 650 625 627 499 719
ESPN2: DLHQ (4-4:30) 205 206 183 247 167
ESPN2: Outside the Lines (4:30-5) 114 75 136 111 59
FS1: Fox Soccer Daily (4-4:30) 43 138* 149* n/a 31†
FS1: NASCAR Race Hub (4:30-5) 137 152* 158* 145* 291†
ESPNEWS: SportsCenter 60 66 71 56 60
MLBN: MLB Now 43 34 38 40 26

*UEFA Champions League coverage 2:30-5; Race Hub aired at 12 PM
†Fox Soccer Daily aired at 3, Race Hub aired at 1:30

5 PM ET

Mon

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

ESPN: Around the Horn (5-5:30) 929 723 624 677 734
ESPN: PTI (5:30-6) 1253 955 860 922 825
ESPN2: College Football Live (5-5:30) 85 94 121 160 95
ESPN2: ESPNFC (5:30-6) 74 66 76 96 92
FS1: Crowd Goes Wild 70 89 76 54 118
NBCSN: The Crossover (5-5:30) 132 n/a n/a n/a n/a
ESPNEWS: SportsCenter 148 95 93 58 82
ESPNU: College Football Live (5:30-6) 86 81 29 50 94
NFLN: NFL Fantasy Live 199 163 109 252 186
MLBN: Intentional Talk 77 68 69 97 80

morganwick.com

6 PM ET

Mon

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

ESPN: SportsCenter 1023† 657 674 631 646
ESPN2: Around the Horn (6-6:30) 87 135 100 95 116
ESPN2: PTI (6:30-7) 195 176 156 207 181
FS1: Fox Football Daily 51 43 38 38 78
GOLF: Golf Central (6-6:30) 114* 59 30 326 300
NBCSN: Pro Football Talk (6-6:30) 108^ 37* 19 72 61*
ESPNEWS: SportsNation n/a 59 93 62 99
NFLN: Around the League Live 223 148 205 155‡ 178
MLBN: MLB Tonight 63 83 93~ 101¹ 73

*Aired from 6-7
†Aired from 6-6:30; SportsCenter on ESPNEWS 6:30-7 had 84,000 viewers
‡Aired 2-5; NFL Total Access 6-8 had 811,000 viewers
^Aired 5:30-6:30
~Began at 6:58 after bonus coverage (78,000 viewers)
¹Bonus coverage; no MLB Tonight

11 PM ET

Mon

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

Sat

ESPN: SportsCenter 114† 592 225‡ 1311 237‡ 2615
ESPN2: Olbermann 152† 163 117~ 45~ 69~ n/a
FS1: Fox Sports Live 37 35 107 n/a 33 69^
NFLN: NFL Total Access 61* 225 231 3378* 189 82

*Aired 11:30-12
†SportsCenter aired on ESPN2 11-11:45, with Olbermann following
‡Aired on ESPN2
^10 PM airing after UFC had 167,000 viewers
~Aired on ESPNEWS

Midnight   ET

Mon

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

Sat

ESPN: SportsCenter 4405 558 144† 1029 1691 1942
ESPN2: Olbermann n/a 104 138 114 122 n/a
FS1: Fox Football Daily 27* 60 96 29* 64 56*

*Fox Sports Live
†Aired on ESPNEWS

1 AM ET

Mon

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

Sat

ESPN: SportsCenter 178* 629 398 758 826 1154
ESPN2: Baseball Tonight 137* 60 96 86 102 263†
FS1: Fox Sports Live 28 18 47 28 38 62
NFLN: NFL Fantasy Live 137 160 146 666 154 n/a
MLBN: Quick Pitch 78 94 76 51 147 71

*Baseball Tonight aired 12:42-1, followed by SportsCenter on ESPN2 at 1; NFL Primetime had 1.926 million viewers
†Aired 2:30-3:30; College Football Final 1:30-2:30 had 617,000 viewers
‡Aired 1:30-2:30

2 AM ET

Mon

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

Sat

ESPN: SportsCenter 1437 453 319 449 586 910
ESPN2: NASCAR Now (2-2:30) n/a 43* 84 67 n/a n/a
FS1: Fox Sports Live 14 11 n/a 10 6 55
NFLN: NFL Total Access 99 121 141 520 119 125
MLBN: Quick Pitch 27 45 65 20 99 39

*Aired at 2:30

Saturday Morning
ESPN: SportsCenter 8 ET 742
ESPN2: NFL Matchup 8:30 ET 193
FS1: Fox Sports Live 8-10 avg. 82
GOLF: Morning Drive 7-9 avg. 44
MLBN: Quick Pitch 8-12 avg. 59
ESPN: College Gameday 9 ET 1828
ESPN2: SportsCenter 9-12 avg. 363
ESPNU: Dari and Mel 9 ET 44
FS1: Fox College Saturday 10 ET 50
ESPNU: First Take CFB 10 ET 9
ESPNU: Film Room 10:30 ET 9
ESPNU: Whiparound 11 ET 43

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Sun 7 AM 8 AM 9 AM 10 AM 11 AM Noon

SportsCenter

SportsCenter

SportsCenter

Sunday NFL Countdown

633K/.5

941K/.8

1.140M/.9

2.235M/1.6

CFB Final

OTL

SR

Colin on FB

SportsCenter

Fantasy FB Now

325K/.3

266

274

318K/.3

344K/.3

443K/.3

Fox Sports Live

Fox Sports Live

NASCAR RaceDay

Fox NFL Kickoff

46K</.05

52K/<.05

329K/.2

227K/.2

Morning Drive

54K/<.05

CFB Final

OTL

SR

Colin on FB

SportsCenter

SportsCenter

99K/.1

84K

74K

61K/<.05

73K/.1

65K/.1

NFL Gameday First

NFL Gameday Morning

159K/.1

577K/.4

Quick Pitch

Quick Pitch

Quick Pitch

Quick Pitch

Quick Pitch

Quick Pitch

23K/<.05

40K/<.05

50K/<.05

44K/<.05

54K/<.05

54K/<.05

*Aired to 8:30

Afternoon   Post/SNF Bridge
NBC: Hyundai Sunday Night Kickoff (8-8:30) 11.31M
ESPN: SportsCenter (7-8) 789
NFLN: NFL Gameday Highlights (7:30-8:30) 431

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Sunday   Night
ESPN:   SportsCenter 11 844
ESPN:   SportsCenter 12:30 814
ESPN2: NASCAR Now 11:30 214
ESPN2: ESPNFC 12:30 112
FS1: Fox Sports Live 11 33
FS1: Fox Sports Live 12:30 43
NFLN: NFL Gameday Overtime 11:30 252
NFLN: NFL Gameday Final 12 471

morganwick.com

Top 10   Weekly Shows Not Otherwise On Chart
NFLN: Lexus Prekick Show Thu 8p 4810
ESPN: Monday Night Countdown Mon 6:30p 2728
ESPN: NASCAR Countdown (NSCS) Sun 1p 1269
ESPN: E:60 Tue 7p 691
ESPN: Top NFL Matchup Airing Sat/Sun 4a 559
ESPNEWS: NASCAR Countdown (NNS) Sat 7p 334
NFLN: A Football Life Tue 9p 327
NFLN: NFL Gameday Scoreboard Sun 4p 291
ESPN2: Baseball Tonight SNB Pregame Sun 7p 285
NFLN: Playbook NFC Fri 10p 230
ESPN2: NFL Kickoff Fri 7p 224
NFLN: Playbook AFC Fri 9p 199