Despite hitting a four-year low in viewership, the Pro Bowl was again the top pro sports All-Star game of the past year.
Sunday’s NFL Pro Bowl earned a 7.1 final rating and 12.2 million viewers on NBC, down 3% in ratings and viewership from last year (7.3, 12.5M), and down 8% and 9%, respectively, from the 2011 game on FOX (7.7, 13.4M).
The game ranks as the least-viewed Pro Bowl since 2009 (8.8M). The 2009 game was the last Pro Bowl to air during the afternoon, and the last time the game aired the week after the Super Bowl.
With that said, Sunday’s game earned the fourth-largest Pro Bowl audience since 2000.
The Pro Bowl ranks as the highest rated and most-viewed pro sports All-Star Game of the past year, topping last year’s MLB All-Star Game on FOX (6.8, 10.9M), NBA All-Star Game on TNT (4.4, 7.1M) and NHL All-Star Game on NBC Sports Network (0.8, 1.3M). Overall, the top four All-Star games of the 2010s have all been Pro Bowls.
Of course, the key difference between the Pro Bowl and the other three All-Star games is that the game earns well-below average numbers compared to regular season NFL coverage.
The 12.2 million viewers for Sunday’s game marks a 43% decline compared to the 21.4 million NBC averaged for regular season NFL games this year. In fact, the game ranks as the third-least viewed NFL telecast of any kind on NBC during the 2012-13 campaign, ahead of only two preseason games.
By comparison, last year’s MLB All-Star Game outperformed the regular season average on FOX by 336% (10.9M to 2.5M), the NBA game topped TNT’s season average by 183% (7.1M to 2.5M), and the NHL game topped NBCSN’s average by 297% (1.3M to 332K).
Most-Viewed All-Star Games of the 2010s
| # | Date | Event | Net | Rating | Viewers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sun., 1/30/11 | Pro Bowl | FOX |
7.7
|
13.4M
|
| 2 | Sun., 1/29/12 | Pro Bowl | NBC |
7.3
|
12.5M
|
| 3 | Sun., 1/31/10 | Pro Bowl | ESPN |
7.1
|
12.3M
|
| 4 | Sun., 1/27/13 | Pro Bowl | NBC |
7.1
|
12.2M
|
| 5 | Tue., 7/13/10 | MLB All-Star Game | FOX |
7.5
|
12.1M
|
(Sunday’s numbers from Media Life Magazine)
