Down. That is where the ratings of most major sports events went in the past year. Whether it was the World Series, the N.B.A. finals, all four Grand Slam golf tournaments or the recently completed United States Open, network ratings tumbled.
The declines, in some cases, were huge and led to record ratings lows, and they could lead to networks' slowing the growth in payments for future deals.
With the National Basketball Association gone from NBC, ratings for the finals on ABC this year dropped by more than a third. Shaun Micheel's victory at the P.G.A. Championship in August sent CBS's rating down 38 percent, after ratings for Jim Furyk's triumph at the United States Open fell by almost half on NBC.
The prime-time United States Open women's tennis final, created in 2001 as a Venus and Serena Williams perennial, dropped 52 percent to a 2.5 for CBS last Saturday when one Belgian, Justine Henin-Hardenne, defeated another, Kim Clijsters. (Each rating point equals 1.07 million TV households.)
It has been a weird year; a confluence of factors put a larger-than-usual dent in the viewership of major sports. The war in Iraq drew viewers away in the spring, especially from the N.C.A.A. men's basketball tournament (the championship game rating fell 16 percent). Rain shortened the Daytona 500 and caused days' worth of delays at the United States Open, which also suffered from Pete Sampras's retirement and injuries to the Williams sisters. Tiger Woods was a factor in only one of golf's majors, and the ratings drop-off ranged from 7 percent (the British Open) to 44 percent (the United States Open).
The N.B.A.'s decision to shift the bulk of its games to cable, on ESPN and TNT, meant lower ratings for ABC, which did not build the type of audience NBC had because it carried far fewer games.
The oases of strength in sports broadcasting continue to be the National Football League (ABC's Buccaneers-Eagles game was the highest-rated Monday night game in two years) and Nascar, which has benefited greatly from moving its main races from cable to NBC and Fox. When rain curtailed the Daytona 500 last February, Fox said it was on its way to posting its highest rating in years.
Still, the overall direction of sports ratings is clear. "If you look at sports ratings over the past decade, they've declined in general," said Ken Schanzer, the president of NBC Sports. "The question is whether the amount of the decline this year is the start of a trend."
Artie Bulgrin, ESPN's senior vice president for research, said this year's declines were accelerated by a key segment of viewers focused on the war in Iraq.
"The audience that paid closest attention to the news, post-9/11, was males 18 to 34, and they were affected for a period that forced sports to take a back seat," he said.
He added: "It's misleading to look at ratings for selected events and conclude that a negative trend is happening. Sports have never been healthier."
Still, sports ratings are not immune to the erosion throughout broadcast television, a trend linked to cable and satellite TV, the Internet, home video and other options.
Ten years ago, the World Series had a 17.3 rating; last year it fell to 11.9. The N.C.A.A. championship game produced a 22.2 rating 10 years ago; this year it dipped to 12.6.
Only eight years ago, the leading prime-time network program, "Seinfeld," averaged a 20.4 rating; this past season the top show, "C.S.I.," generated a 16.3
"Ratings are smaller than ever, and the sports world is the exaggerated tip of it," said Peter Gardiner, chief media officer of the advertising agency Deutsch Inc.
Sports are watched differently than they were during the era of the three-network universe. The bonds of loyalty to a nationally televised sport can be broken more easily because there is so much else to do and perhaps less patience. If Sampras is not playing Andre Agassi, viewers may flip to "Sex and the City."
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The declines, in some cases, were huge and led to record ratings lows, and they could lead to networks' slowing the growth in payments for future deals.
With the National Basketball Association gone from NBC, ratings for the finals on ABC this year dropped by more than a third. Shaun Micheel's victory at the P.G.A. Championship in August sent CBS's rating down 38 percent, after ratings for Jim Furyk's triumph at the United States Open fell by almost half on NBC.
The prime-time United States Open women's tennis final, created in 2001 as a Venus and Serena Williams perennial, dropped 52 percent to a 2.5 for CBS last Saturday when one Belgian, Justine Henin-Hardenne, defeated another, Kim Clijsters. (Each rating point equals 1.07 million TV households.)
It has been a weird year; a confluence of factors put a larger-than-usual dent in the viewership of major sports. The war in Iraq drew viewers away in the spring, especially from the N.C.A.A. men's basketball tournament (the championship game rating fell 16 percent). Rain shortened the Daytona 500 and caused days' worth of delays at the United States Open, which also suffered from Pete Sampras's retirement and injuries to the Williams sisters. Tiger Woods was a factor in only one of golf's majors, and the ratings drop-off ranged from 7 percent (the British Open) to 44 percent (the United States Open).
The N.B.A.'s decision to shift the bulk of its games to cable, on ESPN and TNT, meant lower ratings for ABC, which did not build the type of audience NBC had because it carried far fewer games.
The oases of strength in sports broadcasting continue to be the National Football League (ABC's Buccaneers-Eagles game was the highest-rated Monday night game in two years) and Nascar, which has benefited greatly from moving its main races from cable to NBC and Fox. When rain curtailed the Daytona 500 last February, Fox said it was on its way to posting its highest rating in years.
Still, the overall direction of sports ratings is clear. "If you look at sports ratings over the past decade, they've declined in general," said Ken Schanzer, the president of NBC Sports. "The question is whether the amount of the decline this year is the start of a trend."
Artie Bulgrin, ESPN's senior vice president for research, said this year's declines were accelerated by a key segment of viewers focused on the war in Iraq.
"The audience that paid closest attention to the news, post-9/11, was males 18 to 34, and they were affected for a period that forced sports to take a back seat," he said.
He added: "It's misleading to look at ratings for selected events and conclude that a negative trend is happening. Sports have never been healthier."
Still, sports ratings are not immune to the erosion throughout broadcast television, a trend linked to cable and satellite TV, the Internet, home video and other options.
Ten years ago, the World Series had a 17.3 rating; last year it fell to 11.9. The N.C.A.A. championship game produced a 22.2 rating 10 years ago; this year it dipped to 12.6.
Only eight years ago, the leading prime-time network program, "Seinfeld," averaged a 20.4 rating; this past season the top show, "C.S.I.," generated a 16.3
"Ratings are smaller than ever, and the sports world is the exaggerated tip of it," said Peter Gardiner, chief media officer of the advertising agency Deutsch Inc.
Sports are watched differently than they were during the era of the three-network universe. The bonds of loyalty to a nationally televised sport can be broken more easily because there is so much else to do and perhaps less patience. If Sampras is not playing Andre Agassi, viewers may flip to "Sex and the City."
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