Like Wimbledon, US Tennis Open TV Ratings in Decline

Like Wimbledon TV ratings, the ratings for the US Tennis Open have been in long term decline, but while the decline might have something to do with the decline in US men’s tennis the 2003 Andy Roddick win didn’t help matters.

Complete US Tennis Open TV Ratings, 1972-2008:

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Nielsen released its U.S. estimates for the 2008-2009 season. Although these are projections for January 1, 2009, they will be used throughout the 2008-2009 season beginning September 1, 2008

Total television households grew to 114.5 million, a 1.5% increase over last year.  Total people aged two and older grew to 289.95 million, a 1.3% increase.   Hispanic and Asian TV households outpaced overall TV household growth, growing 4.3 and 4.4% respectively.

We had seen many reports during the spring that DVR penetration in homes had grown to 25% from last year’s ~21%, and the 2008-2009 estimates are fairly consistent with those reports.  Nielsen estimates DVRs in 27.95 million homes or  24.4% of TV households that reach 76.86 million people age two and older.

The table above also lists the audience size of the key advertising age demographics we generally report on.  I also included the 55+ audience.  While the advertisers haven’t traditionally favored the over 55 sector, it is impressive that only 16% of the population routinely seems to account for about 50% of viewing.   As a percentage,  55+ was the fastest growing age demographic, increasing 2.7% from last year.  Good news for CBS?

Nielsen also released updates to all 210 Designated Market Areas (DMA), and for the first time in more than ten years, none of the top 20 markets changed rank.  Nielsen reports a continued trend of growth in Southern and Western U.S. markets, with over half of the markets which moved up in rank coming from the Southeast and Mountain regions. You can see the full updated list of DMAs, or the press release announcing the 2008-2009 estimates (both are PDF files).

Updated with 2008 Numbers

2008 All-Star Game ratings were up from 2007, but only to about the level of 2006.

Full MLB All-Star Game Ratings Data:

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Compared to other sports championship events, the British Open long term ratings trend has been remarkably stable, although not without its year to year ups and downs. I wonder if you can guess by looking at the chart above what happened in 2000, 2005 and 2006? My guess is that we’ll see a sub 4 million average this year regardless of what Greg Norman can do.

Complete British Open TV Ratings, 1972-2007:

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Nielsen now estimates that 28 million homes have DVRs and that 30% have more than one. That means the installed base of DVRs in the US is at least 36.4 million units.

The latest figures from Nielsen show that DVR penetration has climbed to 25% of U.S. homes–up 5% from nine months ago, as cable and satellite operators aggressively try to persuade customers to take on the devices. Separately, data shows that households may increasingly be preparing–albeit not at breakneck speed–for their TV service to continue uninterrupted during next year’s digital transition.

Nielsen data confirms widespread anecdotal evidence: DVR users appear to be passionate about the hardware. Research shows that of the estimated 28 million homes with DVRs, some 30% have the devices teed up for more than one set.

Also, data shows that among DVR homes, 53% are cable subscribers, with 40% using DBS.

Combine that with TiVo’s shrinking subscriber base and TiVo DVRs now make up only a declining 10% of the installed base.

Our previous Wimbledon ratings post has been updated with all the 2008 ratings results, but here is the chart for quick reference.

The All Williams Women’s final, plus the epic Federer v. Nadal battle did produce a noticeable uptick in the Wimbledon ratings, but only to levels last seen in 2002.

Remember when beauty pageants were a big deal? I do. Not so much anymore. Tonight’s Miss Universe pageant ratings have suffered like many other big TV “events”.

We don’t have viewership data for 1982 and 1987, but we do have HH rating and household data below. The date of the pageant has bounced around, and one reason for the plunge from 1986 to 1987 was a shift from mid-July to late May. Donald Trump bought the pageant in 1996 and has proved to have no magic touch. Other pageants have faced similar ratings declines, but it is quite an eye opener that those late 60’s Miss America pageants were watched by about as many people as the Super Bowls of the same years.

Complete Miss Universe Pageant Ratings, 1974-2007:

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Nielsen released a report today that shows that overall TV use by US households continued to increase in the year ending in May, 2008, particularly time-shifting which grew 56% year to year. We’re tracking time-shifting on a weekly basis.

Nielsen’s findings show that screen time of the average American continues to increase with TV users watching more TV than ever before (127 hrs, 15 min per month), while also spending 9% more time using the Internet (26 hrs, 26 min per month) from last year. At the same time, a small but growing number of Internet and mobile phone users are watching video online (2 hrs, 19 min per month), as well as using their cell phones to watch video (3 hrs, 15 min per month).

“Commercial television is alive and well - growing 1% year over year - despite the rapid adoption of other platforms,” said John Burbank, chief marketing officer for The Nielsen Company. “Moreover, timeshifting represents less than 5% of total viewing.”

Two hundred twenty million Americans have Internet access at home and/or work and 73%, or 162 million went online in May. Watching video on the Internet is no longer a novelty; 119 million unique viewers viewed 7.5 billion video streams in May 2008. In addition as of Q1 2008, 91 million Americans (36% of all mobile phone subscribers in the U.S.) owned a video-capable phone. 

“Web video is changing the definition of the Internet for those under the age of 24. Those under 24 use the Internet less than older users but spend a greater percent of time viewing video. For instance, children 2-11 spend relatively little time on the Internet - just 4:58 vs 38:47 for adults 35-44. But much more of their time is likely spent watching video than checking email or traditional websites.” Burbank concluded.

Nielsen must be getting paid a lot by someone for tracking mobile video use. Note that all other figures are for the US population as a whole, but the mobile video is for “mobile video subscribers”, which Nielsen notes number only about 4 million. Were that number to be for the US population as a whole, the average would be insignificant.

You can download a copy of the entire report here.