Pro Bowl ratings were on the low side, but still respectable by all-star game standards.
The NFL Pro Bowl scored a 5.1 rating and 8.23 million viewers across ESPN, ABC and Disney XD Sunday afternoon, down 4% in both measures from last year on ESPN and ABC (5.3, 8.55M), but up 21% and 10% respectively from 2017 on ESPN alone (4.2, 7.45M). The Disney XD broadcast contributed a 0.1 and 151,000.
The combined audience was the third-smallest for the Pro Bowl in the past 12 years (2007: 6.98M), ahead of only 2017 and 2016 (7.99M).
Since hitting a 7.7 and 13.4 million viewers in 2011, Pro Bowl ratings and viewership have declined in seven of the past eight years. Last year — the first year the game was simulcast on two networks — was the lone exception.
Despite the lower numbers, the Pro Bowl compares favorably to similar sporting events. It ranks narrowly behind last year’s MLB All-Star Game (5.2, 8.69M) and comfortably ahead of last year’s NBA All-Star Game (4.3, 7.65M).
Sunday’s game had a 2.2 rating in adults 18-49, down 8% from last year (2.4), down 15% from 2017 (2.6), and the lowest for the game in at least a decade. The 2.2 exceeds the MLB All-Star Game (2.1) but trails the NBA All-Star Game (3.3).
The major difference between the Pro Bowl and its MLB and NBA equivalents is that the Pro Bowl is a significantly weaker draw than the average NFL game. Sunday’s game earned the seventh-smallest audience of the NFL season, ranking 114th out of the 121 total regular season and postseason windows. By contrast, last year’s MLB All-Star Game outdrew every other 2018 baseball telecast outside of the World Series.
The Pro Bowl audience is 48% lower than the average NFL regular season audience (15.8M). Last year’s NBA All-Star Game audience was 305% higher than the league’s regular season average on ESPN, ABC and TNT (1.89M).
Kansas City led all markets Sunday with a 13.9 rating, up 35% from last year (10.3). Pittsburgh ranked second at an 8.6. New Orleans, which ranked as the top market last year, fell 52% to a ninth-place 7.3 this year.
[Numbers from ESPN/ABC, Nielsen via ShowBuzz Daily 1.29]
