Elevated by its National Basketball Association All-Star Weekend coverage,
Turner Network Television put a full-court press on basic-cable viewers,
sweeping to a primetime victory in households and key adult demos last week.
TNT, boosted in particular by a record-setting cable hoops viewing for the
Feb. 9 All-Star Game -- the first on cable and the last for hoop legend Michael
Jordan -- averaged a 2.6 household rating for the week to easily beat
Nickelodeon's 1.8 average.
With a 1.7 apiece, Lifetime Television and TBS Superstation were tied for
third Feb. 2 through 9, according to an ABC Cable Group analysis of Nielsen
Media Research data. Fox News Channel was fifth with a 1.5.
Rounding out the top 10: Disney Channel with a 1.5, Cartoon Network at a 1.4,
USA Network with a 1.3, Cable News Network at a 1.2 and ESPN with a 1.1.
On a total-day basis, Nickelodeon led with a 1.6, well ahead of Lifetime and
TNT, each with a 1.2. Cartoon was fourth with a 1.0, while Disney, TBS and Fox
News were tied for fifth, all with a 1.0.
Among adult demos, TNT enjoyed significant advantages over second-place TBS
among adults 18 through 49 (1.71 million of those viewers vs. 1.14 million), 18
through 34 (858,000 on average, compared with 576,000) and 25 through 54 (1.62
million, for a better-than-500,000 edge over the superstation).
As alluded to above, Jordan's NBA All-Star Game finale was the most-watched
basketball contest in basic-cable history, garnering some 10.8 million viewers
two-plus, according to a Turner Entertainment Research analysis of Nielsen
data.
On a national basis, that translated into a 6.6 household rating, which
trailed the 8.2 (13.1 million viewers) NBC registered for the 2002 All-Star
Game, which was sandwiched between the Peacock's Winter Olympic Games coverage
from Salt Lake City.
TNT's presentation topped the 5.1 rating and 7.8 million viewers for the 2001
affair, as well as the 6.9 rating and 10.5 million viewers delivered by the 2000
game.
The six-minute All-Star postgame (11:33 p.m. to 11:39 p.m.) Sunday night
ranked second for the week with a 6.2 household rating, while the pregame was
third with a 5.9. TNT's NBA All-Star Saturday Night (dunk contest, three-point
shootout, etc.) was sixth with a 3.6.
The game, postgame and pregame shows also held the top three spots among
adults 18 through 49 and 25 through 54.
The All-Star Game also enabled TNT to top all broadcasters in the delivery of
adults 18 through 34, men 18 through 34 (2.23 million), men 18 through 49 (4.17
million) and men 25 through 54 (3.62 million) from 8:30 p.m. until the
conclusion of the Western Conference's double-overtime 155-145 victory over
Jordan's Eastern Conference squad.
