Associating with ESPN …
Can be bad for ratings. I rarely come across anything in Sports Business Journal that I’d call fascinating, but this week’s cover story qualifies — it’s a solid piece of reporting on the criticism ESPN faces from rival networks and sports leagues, a compelling read that opens with the tale of a PowerPoint presentation making the rounds that argues leagues rarely benefit from their association with ESPN as much as the network does. Midway through the article comes this familiar example:
ESPN’s biggest ratings drop — and another oft-mentioned example from rivals — comes in horse racing. The Breeders’ Cup was on NBC from 1984 to 2005. But when it moved to ESPN in 2006, its ratings tanked. The event posted a 1.5 rating/2.002 million average viewers on NBC in 2005, but dropped to an 0.7 rating/994,000 viewers on ESPN in 2006, losing more than half its audience.
ESPN, however, says the television ratings number does not tell the whole story. ESPN provides much more coverage than NBC, including Friday and Saturday windows, whereas NBC only provided Saturday coverage.
Though the total TV audience was more than cut in half, the male 18-34 demo actually grew on ESPN. NBC’s last Breeders’ Cup race in 2005 attracted 1.139 million 18-34 men. Last year, ESPN and ESPN2 reached 1.401 million men with its coverage.
“Horse racing organizers are sensitive to their aging demo,” an ESPN insider said. “They’re pleased to see growth in that younger demo.”
Unless the increase in the number of young male viewers meant improved ratings or traffic numbers elsewhere, track attendance, or dollars wagered, losing half the audience seems like a poor trade. There may be some credence to the complaints about ESPN, with worrying implications for racing’s potential future growth — especially considering how closely the BC has tied its marketing efforts to ESPN (PDF).
Posted by JC in Breeders' Cup on 03/17/2008 @ 10:00 pm / Follow @railbird on Twitter
