Exacerbated by the NHL owners’ lockout, television ratings for the NBC Sports Network are perhaps worse than one might have imagined.
The channel formerly known as the Outdoor Life Network is being held afloat by hunting and fishing programming. The week of December 17-23, the four most-viewed events on NBCSN were fishing telecasts, with “Bill Dance Outdoors” rounding out the top five.
Lest that be perceived as an isolated incident, at least one hunting and/or fishing show has ranked in the top five in each of the past four weeks.
Over the past four weeks (Nov. 26-Dec. 23), the top program on NBCSN was bonus coverage of the 49ers/Patriots “Sunday Night Football” game (1.2M). Only one other program during that span even cracked 200,000 viewers — a live boxing telecast on December 8 (216K). [Click here for chart.]
While live events attracted the biggest audiences over the past month, they have not always performed well. The December 18 Western Kentucky/VCU college basketball game drew just 54,000 viewers, ranking as the network’s top live sporting event of the week, but only the 45th-most viewed program overall.
The biggest failure for NBCSN may be studio programming. Over the past month, not a single episode of “The Lights,” “The Dan Patrick Show,” “NBC Sports Talk,” “Pro Football Talk,” or “Costas Tonight” has managed to attract 100,000 viewers. If one wants to be charitable, the most recent new episode of “Costas Tonight” had 61,000 viewers, with 51,000 tuning in for a re-air the same night.
It should be pointed out that comparisons were not available to last year, when NBCSN was still Versus and the NHL season was played as scheduled. Perhaps these numbers are solid compared to what NBCSN has earned in previous years.
Listed are the five most-viewed programs on NBC Sports Network in each of the past four weeks, as well as additional programs of interest.
Most-Viewed Programs on NBCSN
Past four weeks
| # | Date | Time | Show | Type | Rating | Viewers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 26-December 2 | ||||||
| 1 | Sat., 12/1/12 | 11 AM | "Winchester Legends" | Hunting |
0.1
|
146K
|
| 2 | Wed., 11/28/12 | 9 PM | "Onward Notre Dame" | NCAA Football |
0.1
|
130K
|
| 3 | Sun., 12/2/12 | 7:30 PM | "Dangerous Game" | Hunting |
0.1
|
124K
|
| 4 | Sat., 12/1/12 | 10:30 AM | "Real Hunting" | Hunting |
0.1
|
116K
|
| 5 | Sun., 12/2/12 | 10:30 AM | "Napa’s North to Alaska" | Outdoors |
0.1
|
113K
|
| 13 | Fri., 11/30/12 | 7:30 PM | Boston College/Boston Univ. (top live event) | NCAA Hockey |
0.0
|
87K
|
| 23 | Wed., 11/28/12 | 10 PM | "NFL Turning Point" (top episode) | NFL |
0.1
|
77K
|
| T35 | Thu., 11/29/12 | 5 PM | "Pro Football Talk" (top episode) | NFL |
0.0
|
67K
|
| 66 | Thu., 11/29/12 | 4 PM | "Best of The Dan Patrick Show" (top episode) | General |
0.0
|
48K
|
| T77 | Thu., 11/29/12 | 6 PM | "NBC Sports Talk" (top episode) | General |
0.0
|
38K
|
| T127 | Thu., 11/29/12 | 8 AM | "The Lights" (top episode) | General |
0.0
|
21K
|
|
December 3-9
|
||||||
| 1 | Sat., 12/8/12 | 10:30 PM | "NBCSN Fight Night" (top live event) | Boxing |
0.2
|
216K
|
| 2 | Sun., 12/9/12 | 8:30 PM | "Winchester Whitetail Revolution" | Hunting |
0.1
|
183K
|
| 3 | Sun., 12/9/12 | 10 PM | "Elk Fever" | Hunting |
0.1
|
146K
|
| 4 | Sun., 12/9/12 | 9 PM | "Gun It with Benny Spies" | Hunting |
0.1
|
145K
|
| 5 | Sat., 12/8/12 | 11:30 AM | "Ram Outdoorsman" | Outdoors |
0.1
|
143K
|
| 35 | Sat., 12/8/12 | 12:30 AM | "NFL Turning Point" (top episode) | NFL |
0.1
|
70K
|
| 42 | Thu., 12/6/12 | 9 PM | "Costas Tonight" (new) | General |
0.0
|
61K
|
| T56 | Mon., 12/3/12 | 9 AM | "The Dan Patrick Show" (top episode) | General |
0.0
|
49K
|
| T69 | Thu., 12/6/12 | 6 PM | "NBC Sports Talk" (top episode) | General |
0.0
|
41K
|
| T93 | Fri., 12/7/12 | 5 PM | "Pro Football Talk" (top episode) | NFL |
0.0
|
30K
|
| T100 | Thu., 12/6/12 | 8 AM | "The Lights" (top episode) | General |
0.0
|
28K
|
|
December 10-16
|
||||||
| 1 | Sun., 12/16/12 | 8:30 PM | 49ers/Patriots bonus coverage (top live event) | NFL |
0.7
|
1.2M
|
| 2 | Sat., 12/15/12 | 7 PM | United States/China (live) | Women’s Soccer |
0.1
|
178K
|
| 3 | Sat., 12/15/12 | 1 PM | "Red Bull Signature Series" | Action Sports |
0.1
|
140K
|
| 4 | Sat., 12/15/12 | 11 AM | "Winchester Legends" | Hunting |
0.1
|
126K
|
| 5 | Wed., 12/12/12 | 9 PM | "Still Standing: The Earl Campbell Story" | NFL |
0.1
|
115K
|
| 13 | Wed., 12/12/12 | 10 PM | "NFL Turning Point" (top episode) | NFL |
0.1
|
93K
|
| T43 | Mon., 12/10/12 | 5 PM | "Pro Football Talk" (top episode) | NFL |
0.0
|
56K
|
| T56 | Fri., 12/14/12 | 9 AM | "The Dan Patrick Show" (top episode) | General |
0.0
|
48K
|
| T60 | Thu., 12/13/12 | 6 PM | "NBC Sports Talk" (top episode) | General |
0.0
|
46K
|
| T135 | Fri., 12/14/12 | 8 AM | "The Lights" (top episode) | General |
0.0
|
20K
|
| December 17-23 | ||||||
| 1 | Sun., 12/23/12 | 10:30 AM | "Hunt For Big Fish with Larry Dahlberg" | Fishing |
0.1
|
177K
|
| 2 | Sat., 12/22/12 | 11 AM | "Bass 2 Billfish" | Fishing |
0.1
|
165K
|
| 3 | Sat., 12/22/12 | 12:30 PM | "George Poveromo’s World of Saltwater" | Fishing |
0.1
|
160K
|
| 4 | Sat., 12/22/12 | 11:30 AM | "Bass 2 Billfish" | Fishing |
0.1
|
154K
|
| 5 | Sun., 12/23/12 | 10 AM | "Bill Dance Outdoors" | Outdoors |
0.1
|
151K
|
| 25 | Fri., 12/21/12 | 10 PM | "NFL Turning Point" (top episode) | NFL |
0.1
|
73K
|
| 45 | Tue., 12/18/12 | 7 PM | Western Kentucky/VCU (top live event) | College Hoops |
0.0
|
54K
|
| T46 | Thu., 12/20/12 | 5 PM | "Pro Football Talk" (top episode) | NFL |
0.0
|
53K
|
| T52 | Fri., 12/21/12 | 9 AM | "The Dan Patrick Show" (top episode — tie) | General |
0.0
|
47K
|
| T52 | Thu., 12/20/12 | 4 PM | "Best of The Dan Patrick Show" (top episode — tie) | General |
0.0
|
47K
|
| T106 | Tue., 12/18/12 | 8 AM | "The Lights" (top episode) | General |
0.0
|
27K
|
| T119 | Mon., 12/17/12 | 6 PM | "NBC Sports Talk" (top episode — tie) | General |
0.0
|
24K
|
| T119 | Thu., 12/20/12 | 6 PM | "NBC Sports Talk" (top episode — tie) | General |
0.0
|
24K
|
