Last week, we told you about how ESPN lost 621,000 homes in the October cable estimates, but after a protest by the Worldwide Leader, Nielsen which publishes the figures quickly withdrew the numbers to check if they were correct. Almost a week after Nielsen released its original estimates, it has announced that it will not revise its data and keep the October estimate as is.
It means that ESPN has lost 621,000 homes from October, ESPN2 is down 607,000 and ESPNU off 674,000. ESPN which vehemently protested when the numbers were originally released issued another statement which counters the Nielsen numbers:
“This most recent snapshot from Nielsen is a historic anomaly for the industry and inconsistent with much more moderated trends observed by other respected third party analysts. It also does not measure DMVPDs and other new distributors and we hope to work with Nielsen to capture this growing market in future reports.”
But ESPN is not the only network which took a a big hit. As we told you in our original story, NBA TV lost the most of the major sports cable networks at 733,000 homes and NBCSN was down 705,000 homes from the month before. Neither the NBA nor NBCSN owner Comcast made a protest to Nielsen.
It will be interesting to see if the October numbers are an anamoly or if the trend continues next month.
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About Ken Fang
Ken has been covering the sports media in earnest at his own site, Fang's Bites since May 2007 and at Awful Announcing since March 2013.
He provides a unique perspective having been an award-winning radio news reporter in Providence and having worked in local television.
Fang celebrates the four Boston Red Sox World Championships in the 21st Century, but continues to be a long-suffering Cleveland Browns fan.