A question for fans who have orange and blue wardrobes:
Which NFL city has the largest local audience during games?
For Broncos fans, the answer seems logical. It’s Denver by a large margin, considering all of the local print and electronic coverage the team receives.
Actually, at the midway point of the 2014 season, Denver ranks third behind New Orleans and Green Bay (Milwaukee), according to Nielsen and NFL Network figures.
The numbers: 45.2 audience rating for New Orleans, 42.8 for Green Bay (Milwaukee) and 42.1 for Denver. A rating represents a percentage of households in a given area tuned to a particular program from the total available in the area.
The Broncos have had audience shares of more than 70 percent during the first eight games, meaning that nearly two-thirds of the local TV households are actually viewing the games.
Denver has nearly 1.6 million TV homes.
Other national ratings figures in the top five at midseason: Seattle (40.4) and Pittsburgh (37.6).
Dallas, once the home of “America’s team,” is in 11th place with a 36.6 audience rating.
The smallest TV audience? Oakland (9.9 rating).
New York, the nation’s largest TV market, has lost faith in the Giants (15.1) and Jets (12.1) They rank 30th and 31st in the 32-team league, just ahead of the Raiders.
To answer an often-asked question: Nielsen, with its sophisticated electronic know-how, has not found a way to provide sports audience ratings in bars, restaurants and personalized viewing.
Nationally, the NFL, at the half-way point, is en route to its most successful season ever in audience figures.
Six NFL telecasts have averaged more than 27 million viewers, compared with three games at this time last season.
The most-watched TV games this season: Cowboys vs. Seahawks on Fox (30 million), followed by Broncos vs. Patriots on CBS (29.1 million).
The Broncos are a big hit nationally, playing in five of the of the 10 most-watched games.
The other four: Broncos vs. Seahawks on CBS (27.3 million), Broncos vs. Chiefs on CBS (25 million), Broncos vs. 49ers on NBC (23.8 million) and Broncos vs. Colts on NBC (23.8 million).
Prime time continues to be fertile NFL territory. NBC’s Sunday night schedule shows an overall 21.4 audience rating, making it the most-viewed series in prime-time television.
ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” has an average audience of 13.9 million viewers, compared with 13.4 million at the midway point a year ago.
The CBS-NFL Network package led all prime-time programming on Thursday night.
Perhaps the most telling statistic: All NFL games have won their time periods against all programming.
And here’s a reason baseball no longer is America’s pastime:
Fox’s telecast of World Series Game 7 had 23.7 million viewers in prime time — fewer than the network’s Broncos-Seahawks battle on a Sunday afternoon.
Longtime Denver journalist Dusty Saunders writes about sports media each Monday in The Denver Post. Contact him at tvtime@comcast.net.
Broncos, Raiders tied to “MNF”
The Denver Post guided you down memory lane Sunday regarding the longtime Broncos-Raiders rivalry.
Here’s a memorable electronic avenue:
On Oct. 22, 1973, at Mile High Stadium, Denver tied Oakland 23-23 on a field goal by Jim Turner with 18 seconds remaining.
That was the Broncos’ first appearance on ABC’s “Monday Night Football,” which premiered in September 1970.
The popular ABC team — Howard Cosell, Frank Gifford and Don Meredith — was on hand, with the personable Meredith leading off the nationally televised game by saying: “Welcome to the Mile High City … and I really am!”
Meredith had imbibed a bit with friends before the game. He was quickly yanked from the telecast but returned a few minutes later to cover the game.
