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NBC is artificially lowering its national ratings profile by airing only local commercials in the first half-hour of its hour-long Sunday Football Night in America National Football League pregame show, according to rivals. By airing only local ads, Nielsen Media Research does not include that time slot in its national ratings - a slot which is one of the network’s lowest half-hours of the week.
The show has averaged a 2.1 rating in adults 18-49 from 7-7:30 p.m., writes Mediaweek, while the second half-hour, which contains national commercials, is averaging a 3.0.
Nielsen permits live sports shoulder programming leading up to live sports telecasts to be divided this way. ABC is upset because NBC’s tactic apparently allowed NBC to beat its rival in the 18-49 demo for Sunday, Oct. 1, according to the article, which points out that Sunday is one of ABC’s strongest nights.
Jeff Bader, executive vp of ABC Entertainment, points out that networks cannot drop ratings for scripted shows, which gives NBC what he calls an unfair advantage. “If we could exclude the first half-hour of our 7 p.m. Sunday show, America’s Funniest Home Videos, the hour ratings would be a 4.0 versus a 2.8,” he is quoted as saying.
NBC representative Liz Fischer said that the commercial time for the first half hour of its NFL pregame show was given to affiliates to sell locally as part of its affiliate deal, which was need to help pay for the network’s $600 million per year deal for the Sunday Night Football TV rights.
ABC says that the tactic could have implications on the entire season’s 18-49 ratings race.
A Nielsen representative says that it is within NBC’s rights to do this under Nielsen regulations.
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