Comments on: Monday Night Football Sets Records: Biggest Cable Net Audience Ever

By: Robert Seidman

Robert Seidman — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 21:06:06 +0000

Hi Conchita, thanks. And no, we bought it from woothemes.com last summer for ~$70 (US) and I modified it a bit. It’s probably cheaper now, I haven’t looked in a while — but it was the “Livewire” theme.

By: Conchita Whittington

Conchita Whittington — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 20:53:02 +0000

Hi! I really like your theme. Did you make it yourself?

By: Fred

Fred — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 14:31:53 +0000

Nomenclature. Now there’s a word you don’t hear every day.

The numbers are broken out on the local level, but only in time period data…not by individual programs. I checked in our market and last November MNF broke out pretty close to the market penetration for Satellite vs Cable: 60% viewers from Cable, 40% from Satellite. Local cable companies use the stories about record viewers for “Cable” programs and neglect to tell their clients that almost half the viewers don’t belong to cable.

I love the website, I refer people to it all the time.

By: Robert Seidman

Robert Seidman — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 13:48:25 +0000

Fred, though I don’t know for certain because we don’t see the full data, I imagine Nielsen is very easily able to break down what % of the numbers were from wired cable vs. satellite. Unfortunately we never see that data.

I think the nomenclature of referrin to all non-broadcast television as “cable” is not likely to change, but I agree with you.

By: Fred

Fred — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 13:33:41 +0000

On a national level, does Nielsen break down how many viewers watched this program via cable vs how many watched via satellite? Also, has anyone tried to come up with a different descriptive name for Channels like ESPN? They’re no longer just cable channels, they’re now satellite and cable channels.

By: Frank James

Frank James — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 20:43:38 +0000

Amazing! Even Tony Kornheiser’s never ending rants could negatively affect agreat game.

By: Robert Seidman

Robert Seidman — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:45:05 +0000

Mike, it’s a good question. I have started watching too, though not from the beginning. TNT has been putting epsiodes of The Closer on the on-demand, so that’s been nice. It’s a good question in terms of how it would do on the broadcast networks. I’d need to see all the demo/gender data to have a good read and lack such access. Overall I imagine it would do about as well as the original Law & Order, but not as good as SVU.

By: Mike G.

Mike G. — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:41:30 +0000

Definitely a solid ending for the Closer given the fact that lots of people were watching football. Definitely still a power house show for TNT. I’ve actually just started getting into it, so I’m looking forward to those new episodes in Jan. Random thought: I wonder how this show would do on one of the major broadcast networks? We saw Psych, Monk, and Dexter all tank last year. But, what about The Closer?

By: spacerangersfan

spacerangersfan — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:38:40 +0000

From The Hollywood Reporter:

“Closer” ended its fourth season at 9 p.m. Monday with 7.6 million total viewers tuning in. Although that didn’t match the Season 3 finale of a year ago, when a record 9.2 million viewers watched, the Season 4 conclusion was off only slightly from its fourth-season bow in July (7.8 million).

In the key demos, “Closer” averaged 2.4 million adults 18-49 and 3.2 million 25-54.

Link: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3i5a9d5db89bd3dec3dba4fd4133b4a86a

And from Access Atlanta:

But the drama slipped to 5 million viewers week two and 4.5 million Monday night. That’s a 40%-plus dropoff in two weeks. Not even the brighest-eyed optimist can take that as good news. Critics and viewers have complained that the show feels pedestrian and lacks the edge that has kept “The Closer” so popular.

Link: http://www.accessatlanta.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/accessatlanta/radiotalk/entries/2008/09/16/916_tnt_renews.html

By: Bob

Bob — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:21:07 +0000

Anyone knows what numbers The Closer and Raising the Bar got?

By: dave

dave — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:02:59 +0000

This just proves how important good quality games are to NFL ratings. It doesn’t matter network or time, the best games get the best ratings.

By: Joseph

Joseph — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 06:48:43 +0000

I read that RAW only got a 2.6 rating OUCH Monday Night Football really took a bite out of the RAW audience and I am a wrestling fan but even I was watching more of the Cowboys vs Eagles game I saved RAW for my DVR so I am not sure what RAW can do to go against NFL probably nothing but hope there are some bad match-ups which looking at next monday’s game between the very good Chargers against Brett Favre and the Jets looks like another blow to RAW cause Brett Favre = Ratings and the Chargers are in the sports news for getting ripped off in that Bronco’s game so lots of people will be watching I am sure of it

By: Robert Seidman

Robert Seidman — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 00:43:30 +0000

Haha, good catch Brian. I’m well aware of the Ravens, and had not forgotten them (and even got it right in the preliminary ratings post). I’d chalk it up to being old and brain dead (long day) rather than cave dwelling…

By: Brian

Brian — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 00:39:45 +0000

The Baltimore Colts played last year? Someone has been living in a cave the last 2 decades or so.

By: Wopa

Wopa — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 00:38:20 +0000

Strange that only Walt Disney channels are breaking records in cable.

By: Robert Seidman

Robert Seidman — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 23:28:47 +0000

High School Musical Two did 17.2 million in its initial airing. Though if you add up all the subsequent airings, it’s truly massive. But it looks like ESPN set the record for most viewers of a single airing whether it be on an advertising supported network or not…

By: Josh

Josh — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 22:55:23 +0000

High School Musical 2 did well last year didnt it.

The highest cable audience in the UK is 2million! i think it was for Bionic Woman or something!

By: Robert Seidman

Robert Seidman — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 22:18:05 +0000

indeed.

By: Wopa

Wopa — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 22:16:10 +0000

The mouse should be happy.