NEWS
Breeders’ Cup ratings even for Friday, up overall
Posted: Friday, October 31, 2008 1:47 PM
by Jeff Lowe
ABC’s coverage of a portion of the Breeders’ Cup World Championships helped boost the overall audience for the two-day event from Santa Anita Park on October 24 and 25, but the expansion and enhancement of the Friday program had little effect in the ratings.
The Breeders’ Cup bolstered the Friday card with the addition of the Breeders’ Cup Ladies' Classic (G1) and two other established races, but the rating was even at a 0.3 for a three-hour show on espn2. The number of overall viewers increased slightly, from 349,000 to 356,000, said Mark Mandel, a spokesman for ESPN and its sister station, ABC. The final hour of coverage that included the Ladies’ Classic increased 27%, from a 0.29 rating to a 0.36.
The combined rating for nine-plus hours of live coverage over two days on ABC, ESPN, and espn2 was a 0.7, up 11% from a 0.6 in 2007 when the Breeders’ Cup aired on ESPN and espn2.
ABC had the first 2 1/2 hours of the World Championships program on October 25 and drew a 1.0 rating in the first network coverage of the Breeders’ Cup since NBC last aired the entire event in 2005.
ESPN took over at 3:30 p.m. EDT and drew a 0.97 rating for three hours and 45 minutes that included the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) and Emirates Airline Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1). Last year, the Saturday card drew a 0.87 rating for six hours on ESPN.
Mandel said the actual number of people who watched the Saturday portion on ESPN increased 12% to 1.2-million. Some of the leading ratings in the country came from Louisville at 3.0, Pittsburgh at 2.1, and Las Vegas at 2.0.
Mandel did not have a list of markets that did not carry the ABC portion because of local preemptions for college football. The local affiliate in Detroit showed a college football game instead of the Breeders’ Cup because of a contractual obligation with the Mid-American Conference. The station did offer the Breeders’ Cup on its digital channel.
“That is very typical of sports on the weekend, whether it’s college football, whether it’s golf, whether it’s college basketball,” Mandel said. “It’s very rare that 100% of our stations clear all of our events. I don’t have the individual markets now, but it was well into 90% of our stations.”
Mandel said 19.78-million people watched at least some portion of the Breeders’ Cup, a 62% increase from 12.37-million in 2007.
“With the expanded two-day format and the addition of ABC, we achieved one of this year's main objectives—to showcase the World Championships to a significantly larger audience," said Greg Avioli, Breeders' Cup president and chief executive officer. "We thank our partners at ESPN for a tremendous production and outstanding promotion leading up to the event."
Jeff Lowe is a Thoroughbred Times staff writer
