NESN has a nice view
After slow start, ratings near normal levels for Sox
The Red Sox have a knack for putting together a rally when they need one. Apparently, the same applies to the network that carries their games.
After a slow start this season, NESN's ratings for Red Sox telecasts are again approaching their usual unmatched heights in Major League Baseball.
According to Nielsen research, from June 4 to June 9, the Red Sox' average rating in Boston-area households was 9.2 with an 18 share, including an enormous 14.8 rating/24 share for Tuesday's opener of a three-game series with the Yankees. Ratings represent the percentage of all homes with televisions in a market watching a broadcast.
Even during NESN's early-season slump - local ratings through May 21 were down approximately 14 percent from a year ago, according a report in the Boston Business Journal - the Red Sox were still drawing the highest local ratings among all major league teams. According to Nielsen, the average rating for all 30 MLB teams through May 24 was 3.2, the same as last year. The Yankees had their best rating ever for April and May - 4.5 - on their version of NESN, the YES Network.
It's all a matter of context. A valley to NESN is a peak to essentially every other team. Still, the numbers were down; as recently as June 9, the average household rating this season was 8.92, which was 6.8 percent behind last year's pace.
There was much speculation about the reason; the absence of popular analyst Jerry Remy, who is recovering from the effects of cancer surgery, and the reduced star power and charisma of this post-Manny Ramírez team were cited. But it seems much simpler. For the first month and a half, the Sox were often competing with Bruins and/or Celtics playoff games. And two West Coast trips before May 17 didn't help.
"We were braced for it," said NESN vice president for programming Joel Feld. "We spent the first month, month and a half just staying on the radar screen with the Bruins and Celtics doing so well.
"Where the Bruins [whose games air on NESN] and the Celtics are concerned, we're always hoping for a long playoff run, but to some degree it did cause conflicts. But look at it this way: there were nights when we'd have a Bruins game and a Red Sox game, and end up with a 20 [combined rating].
"That's a good story, a good problem to have."
Schefter spent 15 years as the Broncos beat writer for the Denver Post before joining the NFL Network, and ESPN apparently intend to position him as a multimedia star once he begins in August. (Schefter has not appeared on the air for the NFL Network since March because of a contract dispute.) He will appear on such programs as "SportsCenter," "NFL Live," "Sunday NFL Countdown," and "Monday Night Countdown" as well as writing columns for ESPN.com and contributing to ESPN Radio.
While Schefter, 42, is a savvy hire by ESPN, it will be fascinating to see how this plays out. ESPN already has a deep roster of high-profile NFL reporters, among them Chris Mortensen and John Clayton. Yet Schefter arrives with a reputation for breaking news. Among many other scoops, he was the first to report that Randy Moss would be dealt from the Raiders to the Patriots before the 2007 season.
It bears watching as to whether he continues to have the same access and depth of sources that he had at the NFL Network, or whether his presence will relegate one of ESPN's established NFL reporters to a lesser role.
