Using cumulative numbers rather than average ratings, CBS is claiming a ratings victory for the NFL regular season over Fox and NBC. While this is technically true, this isn’t how the other networks see it. CBS says for the entire regular season, 161 million viewers watched at least 6 minutes of action on the network. That’s compared to 159.3 million on Fox and 147.7 million on NBC. CBS says it’s using Nielsen’s numbers, but how is this counted? And what fuzzy math is being used?
Fox has already claimed a ratings victory on the average numbers for its games. CBS’ numbers were down when you use average ratings. But everyone wants to end on a positive, so CBS uses the cume.
Here’s the press release.
MORE PEOPLE WATCHED “THE NFL ON CBS” THAN ANY OTHER NETWORK FOR ENTIRE 2011 REGULAR-SEASON
More people watched THE NFL ON CBS games than any other network, based on a cumulative analysis of Nielsen data.
Through 17 weeks of the 2011 regular-season (September 8, 2011-January 1, 2012), THE NFL ON CBS regular-season games were seen by an estimated 161.0 million viewers, 9% higher than NBC’s 147.7 million viewers, 1% higher than FOX’s 159.3 million viewers, and 52% higher than ESPN’s 105.9 million.
The cumulative audience is based on Total Viewers (Persons 2+) who have watched at least six minutes of NFL game coverage since the start of the 2011 regular-season.
That’s it.
