j_crazy wrote:
^swing and a miss.
I don't care about the numbers, but the highest ratings I've ever heard of were like 18's and they were for Title games, like World Series Games or the SB itself.
Actually, the World Series doesn't get numbers anywhere close to the Super Bowl. The only time the WS get's big numbers is when the Yankees are in it, but even then they aren't huge. The OSU/USC game this year which was on ESPN even came close to WS or NBA finals numbers.
Laley23 wrote:
krambman wrote:
TV ratings for sporting events are actually very hard to do. I remember a few years ago the ratings for the opening weekend of the NCAA tournament were low, however, sports bars reported and increase in volume during that weekend from previous years, meaning a lot of people were watching the games in sports bars, so you actually had more people watching the games than what the numbers showed. I think that the Super Bowl estimate is probably low every year as well. With so many people attending Super Bowl parties it's possible to have 5 or more households all in one location being counted as one, which makes it look as if less people are watching the game than there actually are.
This is very true. Nielson actually came up with a device that would mark what you were watching/listening to (radio and TV)....but it didnt (or hasnt yet) caught on. A device you basically just put in your pocket and it tracks the frequency. Plus you have logs/journals.
The TVs that are hooked up to Nielson are the ones that get a little skewed because of sport "parties". But at the same time MOST people who are counted into the ratings are part of the system and are part of the estimate. So they are still being counted assuming the people who are reporting back to Nielson are not attending a SB/sport party and are actually using their own TV.
Yeah, the share % is usually pretty accurate because anyone who is at a Super Bowl party would have their TV turned off, so it may still be a lower percentage than if everyone watched the Super Bowl at home, but it's probably not that far off. It's the total number of viewers that's probably skewed on the low end.
