Recently (02/27/2012), Frank the Tank did a blog that referenced a "State of the Media" slide show that the Nielsen TV ratings service released detailing viewership of sports in the US. What was obvious is that nobody comes close to the NFL.
Contained inside the report was a Nielson comparason of the major college conferences.
Here are the average football viewership totals by conference according to Nielsen:1. SEC – 4,447,000
2. Big Ten – 3,267,000
3. ACC – 2,650,000
4. Big 12 – 2,347,000
5. Pac-12 – 2,108,000
6. Big East – 1,884,000
Here are the average basketball viewership totals by conference according to Nielsen:1. Big Ten – 1,496,000
2. ACC – 1,247,000
3. SEC – 1,222,000
4. Big 12 – 1,069,000
5. Big East – 1,049,000
6. Pac-12 – 783,000
Two things stand out---One is that the Big East football comes in last, but the ratings are not significantly less than the Pac-12 and are relatively close to the Big-12 and ACC. They are actually much closer that it appears (more on that in second).
The second thing that stands out is a bit troubling. Any question that BE basketball is as valuable as BE football can now be laid to rest. The viewership is not even close. Not only that, but BE basketball trails most of the other conferences in basketball viewership.
Now here is the thing that I said I would get to later. The thing that I saw that was not noted in the Neilsen slide show or in Tanks blog, is that the Big East only has 8 football teams----but every other conference has 10-12. That makes a significant difference in the size of the fan base and the number of markets from which viewership would be derived. What happens if we divide Big East viewership by the number of teams in the league and come up with an average per team. Then we adjust the Big East on that basis to a 10, 12 and 14 team league.
When adjusted in that manner, the Big East viewership would be the following---
Big East
8 team----1,884,000
10 team------2,354,000
12 team--------2,825,000
14 team----------3,286,000
Pretty impressive. Those numbers for a 14 team league would place the New Big East behind only the Big-10 and SEC in viewership. Sounds great, but I doubt the viewership would change like that because the new teams likely have smaller fan bases and less national identity than the ones they are replacing.
Now, being a bit more conservative, lets say the new teams have only half the viewer drawing power of the 3 that are leaving the Big East. Using that idea yeilds the following viewership numbers.
Current 8-team Big East--1,884,000
Remaining 5-team Big East--1,177,500
New Big East 12--2,001,750
New Big East 14---2,237,250
That would put the New Big East football viewership smack in the same range as the ACC, Pac-12, and Big 12. Personally, I think this is a reasonable estimate of the New Big East football's drawing power. One nice bonus for the Big East, because they would have a number of less well known teams in larger markets, it very possible that there is far more room for growth in the Big East viewership than there is for conferences that have memberships that are already well known quantities among the general public. If the networks are looking at these numbers in a similar fashion, a strong contract is likely on its way. At any rate, food for thought.
If you would like to read Frank the Tanks blog (which contains the full Nielsen slide show, its available following this link)
http://frankthetank.wordpress.com/2012/0...edia-buzz/