I did a post about this earlier, but here is the ESPN press release.
via press release:
LeBron James’ Announcement Generates 7.3 Overnight Rating
ESPN’s telecast of “The Decision,” when NBA superstar LeBron James announced his decision to join the Miami Heat, generated a 7.3 overnight rating from 9-10:15 p.m. ET. The 7.3 is the highest overnight rating for any non-NFL ESPN program this calendar year. Additionally, based on overnights, last night’s ESPN telecast was the highest-rated program of the night (cable or broadcast).
The telecast peaked with a 9.6 rating from 9:15-9:30 p.m., when James officially made the announcement. The top three local markets were Cleveland (26.0 metered market rating); Columbus (14.2) and Miami (12.8). Chicago ranked sixth with a 10.7 rating and New York ranked seventh with a 10.4 rating.
Last night’s telecast exceeded the audience for ESPN’s exclusive interview with Tiger Woods on Sunday, March 21, 2010, which posted a 0.4 metered market rating for SportsCenter from 6-8 p.m. and peaked with a 0.8 rating from 7:45-8 p.m. It also trumped ESPN’s exclusive interview with Alex Rodriguez on Monday, Feb. 9, 2009, which generated a 0.9 metered market rating (6 p.m. edition of SportsCenter).
LeBron Coverage Across ESPN Digital Media Platforms
James’ decision attracted more than 300,000 unique viewers on ESPN3.com, one of the largest audiences ever for a non-World Cup match. ESPN.com and ESPN Mobile Web had more than three million unique visitors from 9-10 p.m. Additionally, visitors spent nearly 130 million minutes on the ESPN.com home page, ESPN.com NBA section, ESPN Mobile Web home page and ESPN Mobile Web NBA section throughout the day.
That's padding. An hour and fifteen minutes for an announcement that could have been made in ten seconds. Wow!
such a prima donna. i hope he breaks a foot in a preseason game
Just more proof Neilsen Viewers are IDIOTS
Just More proof that Neilsen Viewers are IDIOTS…
or that the Neilsen Numbers are Simply made up take you pick!!!
More proof that no one who complains about Nielsen knows how to spell the company's name!!!
I pressed like on the wrong comment, but I completely agree Jared!
Julia, people like this are obviously referring to that mysterious little-known TV ratings company by the name of Neilsen. I'm starting to think that it's a secret society that damages the ratings of commonly hated top 10 programs such as American Idol, Two and a Half Men, and Dancing with the Stars.
I just want to know why Nielsen (the one and only!) has decided to delay last night's finals for cable. I'm REALLY interested in knowing what the 18-49 demo was for The Decision since sports tend to skew really young. I'm guessing that it got above a 5 in the demo since it has a 7.3 HH rating.
Yes, the ratings are real. But they are based on a sample, not a census. Which means they are taking 1/100th of the population that is metered and driving a currency number based on that tiny microview of what Nielsen considers to be a healthy representation of the North American Population. And $70B in advertising is bought and sold based on a sample of their consumer. It's like someone giving you a taste of a raw onion and that is supposed to be representative of what that onion would taste like cooked, and mixed into an omelette with 12 other ingredients.
ppl need 2back of the king its his choice and the right1 its gunna b hella crazzy dont hate jeliousey is a mofo
you're just confused about how statistics work.