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Topic: Ratings
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D.A.
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Posted: 1/14/2015 10:36 AM
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So I guess the general populace is not so concerned about concussions/pay for play/etc that they have chosen to tune out:

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaaf-dr-saturday/college-f...

And in general, the MAC bowls were well represented on the airwaves, despite a drop in butts in seats:

http://www.sportsmediawatch.com/college-football-tv-ratings/

Clearly interest in football is waning in American's collective conscience. (sarcastameter pegged at 11) Means very good things for anorris' employer for the long term, and over time should continue to deliver increasing revenues to Intercollegiate Athletics at OHIO, especially when the playoff is expanded to eight teams.
colobobcat66
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Posted: 1/14/2015 10:45 AM
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The MAC had 3 of the bottom 4 rated bowls, that's not good. Of course, timing, etc may be responsible for the low ratings, but not many people go out of their way to watch the MAC, it appears.
The Optimist
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Posted: 1/14/2015 11:07 AM
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For all the dooming talk of the coming "great divide" there sure seems to be a lot of money to be made in obscure bowl games in addition to the playoff.

The larger D-1 is, the easier it is to keep bowl games flowing on ESPN over the holidays.
Pataskala
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Posted: 1/14/2015 11:36 AM
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The pre-Christmas bowls fared much worse than the post-Christmas bowls. I see two main reasons: fewer "P"5 teams play pre-Christmas (only the Vegas Bowl had a "P"5 team); and people have a lot of other things to do pre-Christmas (I know I was out shopping, etc. on 12/20 and didn't know the Spud Bowl was on until it was over).
L.C.
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Posted: 1/14/2015 11:36 AM
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I note that only 5 bowl games were under 1.9m viewers, and four of those were the four MAC games, and they are all more than 20% below that 1.9m mark:
1.50m CMU/W. Ky
1.45m WMU/Air Force
1.37m Toledo/Arkansas State
1.32m BYU/Memphis
1.11m S. Alabama/BG

You can't blame it all on the time slots.

Looking at the regular season:
Ohio/Miami game - was watched by 564k, which beat 14 other games that week, and it was 3rd among 6 ESPN2 games, not too bad.

NIU/Ohio - watched by 278k, that was nearly a tie for 2d out of six games that week on ESPNU, again, not bad.

Buffalo/Ohio - watched by 81k, pathetic

Ohio/Kentucky - watched by 537k, 3rd of four games on ESPNU that week
OhioCatFan
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Posted: 1/14/2015 12:21 PM
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So more people watching OHIO-Miami than OHIO-Kentucky? That's surprising. Two explanations: 1. lots and lots of OHIO alumni tuned in. 2. Most UK fans were watching their DVD's of the last three UK national basketball championship games. Kentucky is a basketball school, after all! ;-)
Casper71
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Posted: 1/14/2015 1:09 PM
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Yikes, looking at those numbers for the NIU and Buff games...I just gotta say this: is it really of value to play for 81k or 250+k households on a weekday night in November? I know all the pluses and minuses have been discussed but I am not sure anyone ever took the number of watchers into account. It was always look at all the free TV/publicity we get and all the recruits that watch. Well, if basically nobody is really watching then depressing seems to be the best word to describe my feelings.

I still say I'd rather we played 'em on SATURDAYS (even though I attend at least one of the weeknight games while traveling from cincy).
JSF
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Posted: 1/14/2015 1:15 PM
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D.A. wrote:expand_more
Clearly interest in football is waning in American's collective conscience. (sarcastameter pegged at 11)
Has there ever been anything suggesting otherwise?
OhioStunter
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Posted: 1/14/2015 2:42 PM
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Casper71 wrote:expand_more
Yikes, looking at those numbers for the NIU and Buff games...I just gotta say this: is it really of value to play for 81k or 250+k households on a weekday night in November? I know all the pluses and minuses have been discussed but I am not sure anyone ever took the number of watchers into account. It was always look at all the free TV/publicity we get and all the recruits that watch. Well, if basically nobody is really watching then depressing seems to be the best word to describe my feelings.

I still say I'd rather we played 'em on SATURDAYS (even though I attend at least one of the weeknight games while traveling from cincy).
So instead of playing in front of 100K-500K with cable TV revenue, you'd rather have them play in front of 20K with no cable TV revenue?
D.A.
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Posted: 1/14/2015 2:56 PM
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JSF wrote:expand_more
Clearly interest in football is waning in American's collective conscience. (sarcastameter pegged at 11)
Has there ever been anything suggesting otherwise?
Yes, there have been numerous predictions in the media the last couple of years regarding concerns over PCS and decline in participation/interest in the sport.
Casper71
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Posted: 1/14/2015 2:57 PM
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Stunter, please note I was specifically talking about the Buff and NIU games where 80-200k households watched. UK was earlier in the year and maybe a SAT with an SEC opponent so that obviously is not the same kind of game I am talking about. Miami was a Friday after T-giving, I think and i suppose that number was impressive. Again, to clarify, I was talking about those tue/th midweek games.

And, who cares if some football junkies watched the games. I am just starting to question the value of these games from an athletic, student, future student, financial and alumni perspective.
The Optimist
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Posted: 1/14/2015 3:17 PM
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Casper, I know you're interested in seeing our recruiting improve. Have you noticed our recruits discussing midweek games on social media? It is very obvious they are tuning in for these games based on their social media profiles.

With what I consider our strongest recruiting class (on paper) under Frank coming in this year, I personally believe two large factors were television visibility the last 4 years in addition to the new IPF.
OU_Country
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Posted: 1/14/2015 4:01 PM
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Pataskala wrote:expand_more
The pre-Christmas bowls fared much worse than the post-Christmas bowls. I see two main reasons: fewer "P"5 teams play pre-Christmas (only the Vegas Bowl had a "P"5 team); and people have a lot of other things to do pre-Christmas (I know I was out shopping, etc. on 12/20 and didn't know the Spud Bowl was on until it was over).

Many people, myself included prefer to watch holiday hoops instead of bowl games with 6-6 or 7-5 teams in them regardless of conference affiliation.
Ohio69
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Posted: 1/14/2015 4:11 PM
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Off topic a bit, but I can't believe Nielson still exists. I'm surprised the cable and dish companies haven't installed their own tracking systems in their "boxes".
Bobcatbob
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Posted: 1/14/2015 4:30 PM
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Casper71 wrote:expand_more
Stunter, please note I was specifically talking about the Buff and NIU games where 80-200k households watched. UK was earlier in the year and maybe a SAT with an SEC opponent so that obviously is not the same kind of game I am talking about. Miami was a Friday after T-giving, I think and i suppose that number was impressive. Again, to clarify, I was talking about those tue/th midweek games.

And, who cares if some football junkies watched the games. I am just starting to question the value of these games from an athletic, student, future student, financial and alumni perspective.
Here's an exercise in futility for you. Using the UB/Ohio numbers, admittedly skewed, does either University benefit by trading a Saturday Athens home crowd of 17 - 20K live souls who buy popcorn, stay in motels, eat and drink uptown and generally provide support to OU and Athens, for 81K nameless souls who sit in their family rooms and watch everything that EPSN2 spits out?

And are you going to try to convince me that among those 81K households there are some uncommitted high school recruits who will then decide to go to a MAC school so they can play on TV on a cold Tuesday night?

I'm very skeptical of answering yes to either question but I defer to Mr. Schauss and the MAC Commish who must know better.
OhioStunter
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Posted: 1/14/2015 5:15 PM
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Bobcatbob wrote:expand_more
Stunter, please note I was specifically talking about the Buff and NIU games where 80-200k households watched. UK was earlier in the year and maybe a SAT with an SEC opponent so that obviously is not the same kind of game I am talking about. Miami was a Friday after T-giving, I think and i suppose that number was impressive. Again, to clarify, I was talking about those tue/th midweek games.

And, who cares if some football junkies watched the games. I am just starting to question the value of these games from an athletic, student, future student, financial and alumni perspective.
Here's an exercise in futility for you. Using the UB/Ohio numbers, admittedly skewed, does either University benefit by trading a Saturday Athens home crowd of 17 - 20K live souls who buy popcorn, stay in motels, eat and drink uptown and generally provide support to OU and Athens, for 81K nameless souls who sit in their family rooms and watch everything that EPSN2 spits out?

And are you going to try to convince me that among those 81K households there are some uncommitted high school recruits who will then decide to go to a MAC school so they can play on TV on a cold Tuesday night?

I'm very skeptical of answering yes to either question but I defer to Mr. Schauss and the MAC Commish who must know better.
I definitely think the community economy loses out on a weekday game vs. a Saturday game. I also think Mr. Schaus appreciates the ESPN money more than the hot pretzel money.

When it comes to recruits, I think that it is not so much about the "real-time" viewing of MAC teams on the weeknight driving recruits' decisions, but how those teams "package" videos to recruits ("see, we are on ESPN!")
JSF
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Posted: 1/14/2015 5:35 PM
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D.A. wrote:expand_more
Clearly interest in football is waning in American's collective conscience. (sarcastameter pegged at 11)
Has there ever been anything suggesting otherwise?
Yes, there have been numerous predictions in the media the last couple of years regarding concerns over PCS and decline in participation/interest in the sport.
I meant anything substantive. There's nothing to suggest *interest* is going down, though participation may well see a hit in the future.
L.C.
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Posted: 1/14/2015 6:15 PM
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Casper71 wrote:expand_more
... Miami was a Friday after T-giving, I think and i suppose that number was impressive. Again, to clarify, I was talking about those tue/th midweek games....

Actually, Miami was a Tuesday night before Thanksgiving. Let's look at the numbers from all the mid-week games on ESPN/ESPNU/ESPN2:

Tuesday
ESPN2 - UL-Lafayette/Texas St 436k
ESPN2 - Ark St/UL-Lafayette 374k
ESPN2 - BG/Akron 384k
ESPN2 - Toledo/NIU 600k
ESPN2 - Ohio/Miami 564k
ESPNU - Toledo/Kent 113k
ESPNU - Akron/Buffalo 145k
ESPNU - NIU/Ohio 278k

Wednesday
ESPN2 - NIU/Ball St 533k
ESPN2 - Kent St/BG 440k
ESPN2 - BG/Toledo 556k
ESPNU - Abilene Christian/Georgia Sate 287k
ESPNU - Buffalo/Ohio 81k
ESPNU - Ball St/UMass 243k

Thursday
ESPN - Boise St/Miss 2.42m
ESPN - Houston/BYU 1.05m
ESPN - Auburn/Kansas St 3.85m
ESPN - Texas Tech/Oklahoma St 1.84m
ESPN - Arizona/Oregon 2.38m
ESPN - UCF/Houston 744k
ESPN - BYU/UCF 1.34m
ESPN - Virginia Tech/Pitt 1.36m
ESPN - Miami/Virginia Tech 1.22m
ESPN - FSU/Louisville 4.97m
ESPN - Clemson/Wk Forest 1.9m
ESPN - Cal/USC 1.27m
ESPN - NC/Duke 1.44m
ESPN - LSU/Texas A&M 2.91m
ESPN - UCF/ECU 1.04m
ESPN2 - ECU/Cincinnati 821k
ESPNU - Wake Forest/UL Monroe 168k
ESPNU - Ark Pine Bluff/Alabama St 43k
ESPNU - App St/Georgia Southern 156k
ESPNU - UConn/ECU 395k
ESPNU - Troy/Ga. Southern 85k
ESPNU - Ark St/Tex St 187k

Clearly the key is the network. Here are the averages for mid-week games:
ESPN - 1.98m viewers
ESPN2 - 523k
ESPNU -190k

Next most important appears to be how good a game it is. Miami/Ohio featured a great comeback win by the good guys, so it was heavily watched, and had the 3rd highest rating of any game on ESPN2. Ohio/NIU featured a very competitive game to the end, and had the third highest rating of any game on ESPNU. Meanwhile, in the Buffalo/Ohio game, Buffalo clearly sucked, and the game was not competitive, so it had the 2d lowest viewership of any game on ESPNU.
Deciduous Forest Cat
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Posted: 1/15/2015 9:33 AM
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Ohio69 wrote:expand_more
Off topic a bit, but I can't believe Nielson still exists. I'm surprised the cable and dish companies haven't installed their own tracking systems in their "boxes".
They have.
The Optimist
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Posted: 1/15/2015 10:55 AM
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Nielson's twitter ratings are often interesting to look at.
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