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Ratings for Hall of Fame Game top other major sporting events*
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Sunday night's Pro Football Hall of Fame game featuring the Tennessee Titans and Buffalo Bills was a ratings hit both locally and across the country.
NBC's broadcast of the game averaged a 4.9 national Nielsen rating, or 7.9 million viewers. In the Nashville viewing area, the WSMV broadcast scored a 27.1 rating, ranking first in the market for the week.
The Hall of Fame Game was the highest-rated sports program of the day, topping ratings for the Bridgestone Invitational Golf Tournament (4.3 rating on CBS), which was won by Tiger Woods, and the Yankess-Red Sox game (3.0 rating on ESPN). The only broadcast of the day that was viewed by a larger audience was CBS's 60 Minutes (6.1 rating).
In 2008, Titans regular season game telecasts reached their largest average audience in five years and the second-highest average audience since the team moved to Tennessee. Regular season games in 2008 drew an average rating of 32.4.
One Nielsen ratings point is equal to one percent of households.
Other Nielsen highlights from the Titans-Bills game:
· This year's game was up four percent compared to the ratings of the 2008 game featuring the Indianapolis Colts and Washington Redskins. It also added 474,000 viewers to the 2008 average audience. (Note: The 2007 Hall of Fame game aired on NFL Network)
· The Hall of Fame Game's ratings were 113 percent higher than the 2008-09 NBA regular season games on ABC (2.3 rating, 3.68 million viewers) and 40 percent higher than the 2009 NBA Playoff games on ABC, nearly doubling the average audience (excluding the Finals, 3.5 rating, 4.0 million viewers).**
· The Titans-Bills game's 4.9 rating was 157 percent higher than the most up-to-date 2009 FOX Saturday Baseball ratings (1.9 rating, 2.9 million average viewers to date*). *
· The Hall of Fame Game ranked first in both the Nashville (27.1 rating) and Buffalo (18.0 rating) markets.
NOTE: All ratings are NATIONAL ratings (total U.S. LIVE SD) based off Nielsen's national sample and not local samples, unless noted otherwise.
