The 2010 Pro Bowl was a complete success for the NFL and ESPN.
Sunday’s game drew a 7.1 U.S. rating and 12.3 million viewers on ESPN, up 32% in ratings and 40% in viewers from last year’s game on NBC (5.4, 8.9 mil), and up 13% and 23%, respectively, from the 2008 game on FOX (6.3, 10 mil).
This marks the highest rated, most-viewed Pro Bowl since 2000 (8.6, 13.2 mil), and the most-viewed Pro Bowl ever on cable television.
Compared to the last Pro Bowl to air on ESPN, the game was up 92% and 106%, respectively, from a 3.7 and 6 million viewers.
To put the numbers in perspective, the Pro Bowl outdrew every 2009 NASCAR race (with the exception of the Daytona 500), every 2008-09 NBA telecast (with the exception of the NBA Finals), every 2009 MLB telecast (with the exception of the World Series and two ALCS games), and every 2009 golf telecast (with the exception of the final round of The Masters).
Additionally, the game drew a higher rating and more viewers than any non-NFL sporting event on cable in 2009 — topping the NBA Conference Finals on TNT and ESPN, the National League Championship Series on TBS, and every single college football game on ESPN and Versus (including USC/Ohio St. in September, which was the most-viewed college football game in the history of ESPN).
Compared to other All-Star Games, the Pro Bowl still trails the MLB All-Star Game (8.9, 14.6 mil, FOX), but topped the NBA All-Star Game (4.5, 7.6 mil, TNT), the NASCAR All-Star Race (2.4, 4.2 mil, Speed), and the NHL All-Star Game (0.6, 1.1 mil, Versus).
Despite the increases, the Pro Bowl continues to be the only All-Star Game of the Big 4 sports leagues to draw fewer viewers than regular season games. The 12.3 million viewers for the game is 15% lower than the 14.4 million ESPN averaged for Monday Night Football in 2009.
By contrast, viewership for the MLB All-Star Game was 441% higher than the regular season average on FOX, viewership for the NBA game was 347% higher than the regular season average on TNT, and viewership for the NHL game was 234% higher than the regular season average on Versus.
(ESPN)
