Ratings Roundup: NBA All-Star Game Posts Solid Numbers Despite Competition; Delayed Daytona 500 Wins Night

Despite heavy competition from the Academy Awards and an earlier-than-usual tip off, TNT posted the second highest overnight for the NBA All-Star Game since 2005. The NBA’s marquee event from Orlando delivered an overall 5.4 US overnight rating on TNT, down 13% from last year (6.2) but trailing only 2011 as the highest rated game since 2005 (5.9 metered market rating). The Top five rated markets for the telecast were Miami-Ft. Lauderdale (10.5), Oklahoma City (10.1), Orlando-Daytona Beach-Melbourne (9.7), Tampa-St. Petersburg-Sarasota (4.9) and Tulsa (3.6).

As for the rest of the All-Star Weekend festivities, NBA All-Star Saturday delivered an overall 4.4 overnight rating (tied with 2009 for the second-highest rated of all time) and drew 6.24 million viewers (the third most-watched telecast in the 27-year history of TNT’s All-Star coverage).

Meanwhile, TNT’s Friday night telecast of the BBVA Rising Stars Challenge was the most-watched telecast in the event’s history, delivering a 1.7 US rating and more than 2.7 million viewers…

…The game only slightly beat out Fox’s Daytona 500 coverage rain out coverage, which drew a 4.5 overnight. Despite the fact that the race did not even take place until Monday night, faithful NASCAR fans remained tuned in.

When the green flag actually dropped on Monday night, Fox notched a 7.7 overnight rating, according to SBJ’s John Ourand. Last year, on a Sunday afternoon, the race drew a 8.2 and drew a 7.0 in 2010

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series on SPEED on Friday night increased household ratings by 9% over year ago numbers for the Daytona event. The race had an average viewing audience of more than 1.8 million people

…On the MMA front, Fuel TV’s inaugural UFC fight telecast, UFC on Fuel TV: Sanchez vs. Ellenberger on Feb. 15, was the most-watched program and evening of primetime programming in network history, and lead to the most watched day in Fuel history (total-day average audience gains of 520%). From 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. (six bouts in all), Fuel averaged 216,000 viewers, a total that included 129,000 guys 18 to 49, according to Nielsen data. Those deliveries represented respective gains of 1340% and +2050%, over the network’s average in February 2011.

Spike TV, which lost the rights to UFC when the promoter signed a deal with Fox Sports Media Group, saw success with the debut of its MMA Uncensored on Feb. 22, which drew a .4 household rating for the channel, with a .5 among M18-34 and a .62 in the M25-54 demo. That marks year-to-year increases of 41% and 51% respectively. The series scored an average audience of 547,000 viewers…

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