CommuterBob
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TV Ratings analysis through week 6: Should the AAC get more TV $$?
Looking over the TV ratings for the 1st 6 weeks of CFB games tells a sobering tale. It's not all doom and gloom though. The AAC does have some decent following, and it appears to be way over that of the rest of the G5, but it is still a far cry from the P5.
Let's look at some comparisons of the consistently lowest rated timeslot:
ESPNews 8 PM Saturdays:
Week 1: NCCU/ECU 0.0 rating 81K viewers.
Week 2: SDSU/UNC 0.1 rating 260K viewers. (ACC team boosted the ratings)
Week 3: Navy/Texas St. 0.0 rating 52K viewers. (oof for Navy. lowest rated FBS game YTD)
Week 4: no game
Week 5: Texas St./Tulsa 0.1 rating 176K viewers (Tulsa a bigger draw than Navy? Who knew?)
Week 6: UNLV/SDSU 0.0 rating 75K viewers (arguably two of the biggest markets in the MWC and only 75K viewers?)
Yep. As expected, the ratings stink. ESPNews is not a prime viewership channel, so those tuning in here were almost assuredly looking for these games. What jumps out to me is how poorly Navy did. But then it's how poorly ECU and the MWC did. We all know how ECU fills their stadium, but to see them with such low ratings is troubling, but it is the 1st weekend and there was a ton of viewership competition for that time.
Now let's look on the top end:
ESPN Thursday Primetime (7/8/9 PM):
Week 1: Boise/Ole Miss 1.5 rating 2.42M viewers (opening week of CFB, only week not up against NFL)
Week 2: no game
Week 3: Houston/BYU 0.6 rating 1.05M viewers
Week 4: Auburn/K-State 2.3 rating 3.85M viewers (marquee SEC team boosts ratings)
Week 5: Texas Tech/Oklahoma St. 1.1 rating 1.84M viewers
Week 6: UCF/Houston 0.5 rating 744K viewers
The XII gets nearly 10x what the AAC gets from their TV contracts, yet has only a little over 2x the viewership for a good conference game. But the NFL on CBS is taking a big hit on these Thursday night ratings. Last year's worst rated ESPN Thursday game was Rutgers/UCF with a 0.7 rating and 972K viewers, so to post under 750K has to have some of that taken into consideration.
Keep in mind that channels like the SEC Network, Big Ten Network, PAC-12 Network and CBSSports do not get rated by Nielsen. But the AAC is getting some viewership, which is good. They have a solid TV partner in ESPN, even if they don't get the solid ESPN money from them. But what is that exposure really worth?
So far, the AAC ratings are decidedly worse than the P5, but they're certainly not 8x-10x worse, which is what the per-team payout ends up being. Realistically, they're about 1/3 the comparable P5 audience:
Week 5, 3:30 PM ESPNU: Wake Forest/Louisville 0.2 rating 309K viewers
Week 5, 4 PM ESPNews: Temple/UConn 0.1 rating 109K viewers
Should the AAC get a raise? Even if the conference tripled its current payout from ESPN, they would be way behind the P5, but I think the ratings show that the AAC has some audience and deserves more than we get.
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10-14-2014 01:40 PM |
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NBPirate
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RE: TV Ratings analysis through week 6: Should the AAC get more TV $$?
ECU-VT drew the highest ratings on cable television when we played. I hope you didnt expect a game where ECU beats an FCS opponent by 50 on ESPNNEWS to draw.
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10-14-2014 01:49 PM |
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Piratelife4me
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RE: TV Ratings analysis through week 6: Should the AAC get more TV $$?
ESPNU 7:00
1.423k UF vs Idaho
2. 976K USC vs ECU
3. 709K LSU vs UL-M
4. 410K Ark vs N.Ill
5. 680K Clemson vs UNC
6. 480K Texas Tech vs K. State
ECU vs USC highest for time slot to date.
Better than several P5 vs P5 and #1 MAC vs P5
ESPNU 3:30
373K SDSU vs Mizz
537K Kentucky vs Ohio
432K Ark vs MIA(oh)
682K ECU vs UNC
309K Lville vs Wake
445K NC State vs Clemson
ECU again highest rated game for time slot to date
Better than several P5 vs P5
ESPN 12:00
2.9m Ucla vs UVA
1.23 Mizz vs Toledo
2.56 ECU vs VT
3.14 GT vs VT
4.72 UGA vs Tenn
4.1 A&M vs Miss State
Nothing special here. Doubled the ratings of only other game not involving P5 team. Also highest rated game on cable. But overall meh
ESPNU 12:00
157K Purdue vs W. Mich
95K Nebraska
312K Indy vs Bowling Green
884K Iowa vs Pitt
540K Wisconsin vs USF
147K ECU vs SMU
Not a good showing.
(This post was last modified: 10-14-2014 02:43 PM by Piratelife4me.)
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10-14-2014 02:15 PM |
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apex_pirate
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RE: TV Ratings analysis through week 6: Should the AAC get more TV $$?
Looks like a little selective gamesmanship by the OP.
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10-14-2014 02:26 PM |
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Piratelife4me
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RE: TV Ratings analysis through week 6: Should the AAC get more TV $$?
ESPNU 7:00 Thursday only has 3 games
1. 168K Wake vs UL-M
2. N/A
3. N/A
4. 43K S. Alabama vs Ark Pine
5. 156K App State vs G. Southern
6. N/A
7. N/A
8. ECU VS UConn
Good Chance after this game ECU/American will have the highest rated game for this time slot on ESPNU
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10-14-2014 02:32 PM |
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mascotswinchampionships
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RE: TV Ratings analysis through week 6: Should the AAC get more TV $$?
Week 3: Houston/BYU 0.6 rating 1.05M viewers
If the American has a chance to bring BYU into the league they need to do it (even if BYU keeps most of their TV deal money).
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10-14-2014 09:17 PM |
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uccheese
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RE: TV Ratings analysis through week 6: Should the AAC get more TV $$?
(10-14-2014 09:17 PM)mascotswinchampionships Wrote: Week 3: Houston/BYU 0.6 rating 1.05M viewers
If the American has a chance to bring BYU into the league they need to do it (even if BYU keeps most of their TV deal money).
Yes, but in the meantime, AAC teams should be trying to get on their schedule anyway. BYU is trying to fill 12 competitive games and giving out H+H's that will get ratings and draw interest from AAC fans. If you are an AAC AD, I wouldn't be waiting on which conference they're in, I'd be on the phone with them (and some have done this).
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10-15-2014 07:45 AM |
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KnightLight
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RE: TV Ratings analysis through week 6: Should the AAC get more TV $$?
(10-15-2014 07:45 AM)uccheese Wrote: (10-14-2014 09:17 PM)mascotswinchampionships Wrote: Week 3: Houston/BYU 0.6 rating 1.05M viewers
If the American has a chance to bring BYU into the league they need to do it (even if BYU keeps most of their TV deal money).
Yes, but in the meantime, AAC teams should be trying to get on their schedule anyway. BYU is trying to fill 12 competitive games and giving out H+H's that will get ratings and draw interest from AAC fans. If you are an AAC AD, I wouldn't be waiting on which conference they're in, I'd be on the phone with them (and some have done this).
That's exactly what AAC Schools are/have been doing...as BYU has home-home deals with:
UCF (just finished last week)
UCONN
Houston
ECU
USF
When 5 out of your 11 current conf schools have home-homes with BYU...that's impressive.
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10-15-2014 08:21 AM |
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goodknightfl
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RE: TV Ratings analysis through week 6: Should the AAC get more TV $$?
There is no doubt the contract is undervalued, or the P5 are over valued. Probably both are true. Hopefully by the look in we can extend. A raise to 4-6 mil would be is probably all we can hope for. Though we still would be in sisters of the poor land, it would clearly make us a tweener or best of the Gang conf. Fortunately this league has both good BB and football to sell.
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10-15-2014 08:36 AM |
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blunderbuss
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RE: TV Ratings analysis through week 6: Should the AAC get more TV $$?
(10-14-2014 02:26 PM)apex_pirate Wrote: Looks like a little selective gamesmanship by the OP.
Not really. He's taking a logical approach comparing best vs worst time slots for an apples to apples comparison to the P5.
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10-15-2014 08:42 AM |
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ecumbh1999
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RE: TV Ratings analysis through week 6: Should the AAC get more TV $$?
Does he realize that these ratings aren't 100% who is watching. It's only viewers from metered markets. Meaning, that none of the ratings include ECU's home market.
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10-15-2014 08:57 AM |
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goodknightfl
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RE: TV Ratings analysis through week 6: Should the AAC get more TV $$?
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10-15-2014 09:00 AM |
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ecumbh1999
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RE: TV Ratings analysis through week 6: Should the AAC get more TV $$?
When did we get the world largest stadium? ~265,000 to hold 80% of our home maket?
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10-15-2014 09:06 AM |
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Piratelife4me
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RE: TV Ratings analysis through week 6: Should the AAC get more TV $$?
(10-15-2014 09:06 AM)ecumbh1999 Wrote: When did we get the world largest stadium? ~265,000 to hold 80% of our home maket?
sarcasm
[sahr-kaz-uh m]
noun
1. harsh or bitter derision or irony.
2. a sharply ironical taunt; sneering or cutting remark:
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10-15-2014 10:14 AM |
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NBPirate
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RE: TV Ratings analysis through week 6: Should the AAC get more TV $$?
(10-15-2014 09:06 AM)ecumbh1999 Wrote: When did we get the world largest stadium? ~265,000 to hold 80% of our home maket?
Its actually 306,000
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10-15-2014 10:20 AM |
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b0ndsj0ns
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RE: TV Ratings analysis through week 6: Should the AAC get more TV $$?
What's going to be interesting and telling for us is how our ratings compare to the other G5 leagues that ESPN owns. If they aren't dramatically better then they will likely just say to themselves we can put any game on at these time slots and they will all draw relatively the same number of eyeballs so there's no reason to give them a raise.
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10-15-2014 11:08 AM |
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CommuterBob
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RE: TV Ratings analysis through week 6: Should the AAC get more TV $$?
(10-15-2014 11:08 AM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote: What's going to be interesting and telling for us is how our ratings compare to the other G5 leagues that ESPN owns. If they aren't dramatically better then they will likely just say to themselves we can put any game on at these time slots and they will all draw relatively the same number of eyeballs so there's no reason to give them a raise.
Right. There isn't enough data there yet. Aside from the SDSU/UNLV game and the Colorado State/Boise game. MACtion hasn't really started yet and comparisons aren't there between MWC ,MAC, CUSA and SBC vs. AAC in given timeslot/channel.
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10-15-2014 12:05 PM |
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ecumbh1999
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RE: TV Ratings analysis through week 6: Should the AAC get more TV $$?
(10-15-2014 10:20 AM)NBPirate Wrote: (10-15-2014 09:06 AM)ecumbh1999 Wrote: When did we get the world largest stadium? ~265,000 to hold 80% of our home maket?
Its actually 306,000
A stadium of 265,000 would be needed to hold 80% of the market. Read it again.
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10-15-2014 12:13 PM |
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ecumbh1999
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RE: TV Ratings analysis through week 6: Should the AAC get more TV $$?
(10-15-2014 10:14 AM)Piratelife4me Wrote: (10-15-2014 09:06 AM)ecumbh1999 Wrote: When did we get the world largest stadium? ~265,000 to hold 80% of our home maket?
sarcasm
[sahr-kaz-uh m]
noun
1. harsh or bitter derision or irony.
2. a sharply ironical taunt; sneering or cutting remark:
No duh, I was being a smartazz
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10-15-2014 12:15 PM |
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