Continuing a recent downward trend, the Pro Bowl sank to multi-year lows in ratings and viewership.
Sunday’s NFL Pro Bowl earned a 4.5 final rating and 8.0 million viewers on ESPN, down 12% in ratings and 9% in viewership from last year (5.1, 8.8M) and down 32% and 30%, respectively, from 2014 on NBC (6.6, 11.4M). The game ranks as the lowest rated Pro Bowl since 2006 (3.7) and the least-watched since 2007 (7.0M).
Since hitting a 7.7 and 13.4 million in 2011 — the best numbers for the game since 2000 — ratings and viewership for the Pro Bowl have declined in each successive year. In the two years since returning to cable, the declines have been by double-digits.
Among adults 18-49, the Pro Bowl had a 2.8 rating — down 13% from last year’s 3.2 and 26% from 2014 (3.8).
The Pro Bowl was crushed head-to-head by the live FOX musical Grease, which had a 6.4, 12.2 million and a 4.3 in the demo. Compared to other sports, it ranked well behind last year’s MLB All-Star Game (6.6, 10.1M) and topped the NBA All-Star Game (4.3, 7.2M) — though it trailed both in the demo (3.1 for each).
Only five regular season NFL windows pulled in lower numbers than the Pro Bowl, all of them airing exclusively on NFL Network — Bills/Jets in Week 10 (7.6M), Jets/Cowboys in Week 15 (7.4M), Chargers/Raiders in Week 16 (7.1M), Titans/Jaguars in Week 11 (6.6M) and Buccaneers/Rams in Week 15 (6.0M). That does not include the Bills/Jaguars game in Week 7, which was broadcast via Yahoo! live stream.
(Sun. numbers via ShowBuzz Daily/Programming Insider)
