ESPN: Ratings up for WSOP Final Table

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ESPN: Ratings up for World Series of Poker finale

The Associated Press

Published: November 14, 2008

LAS VEGAS: Television ratings for this week's World Series of Poker final table were up about 50 percent from its broadcast last year, in part, because the show aired the same day play finished instead of months later, ESPN and tournament officials said Thursday.

The World Series of Poker said the number of viewers who watched 22-year-old Peter Eastgate win the main event and its $9.15 million prize was higher than the cable network's average for regular season major league baseball and NBA games last season.

ESPN says roughly 1.9 million households tuned in to watch the final table, compared with 1.25 million households in 2007.

The show's ratings were 18 percent higher than in 2003, when Chris Moneymaker won the tournament, World Series of Poker organizers said. Many poker followers point to Moneymaker's win as an amateur in the tournament as the beginning of a boom for the no-limit Texas Hold 'em tournament. Participation in the event grew from then until 2006, but declined in 2007.

Organizers changed the format of the main event this year so the final table could be played closer to its airing on television. Before this year, the main event would finish in July but would not air on television for months.

"What you did was create a must-see television event which ... wasn't the case the past few years when you knew who the winner was," World Series of Poker spokesman Seth Palansky said. "It was that whole 'Who will win?' element."

The World Series of Poker has not explicitly said whether it would delay the final table again next year, but organizers have said television ratings would be one factor in its decision.

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Ratings Rebound for 2008 World Series of Poker

BY: STEPHEN A. MURPHY | steve.murphy@cardplayer.com

PUBLISHED: Tuesday Nov 11, 2008 01:51 PM

Episodes Attract Biggest Audiences in More Than Two Years

After seeing a decline in viewership numbers in 2007, ESPN’s broadcasts of this year’s World Series of Poker attracted some of the biggest audiences it has seen in more than two years.

“The viewership and interest we’ve seen this season tells us that the World Series of Poker still has a very strong following,” said George McNeilly, the senior director of communications for ESPN.

According to McNeilly, ESPN’s 30 WSOP episodes are up 6 percent from last year (with an average Nielsen rating of .90), and its main-event episodes are up 10 percent (with an average Nielsen rating of 1.01). A Nielsen rating of 1.0 translates to 1,145,000 households.

The final hour of ESPN’s Oct. 21 episode, which saw the final 79 players of the tournament narrowed down to 27, had a bigger audience than the 2007 main event final table, according to McNeilly.

The 10 p.m. hour of the Oct. 21 episode earned a 1.44 Nielsen rating, while the 2007 final table had a 1.38 rating.

ESPN’s Oct. 28 episode, which ended with only the November Nine left standing, boasted a 44 percent increase from last year and obtained a Nielsen rating of 1.59. The last time ESPN poker had ratings this good is when Jamie Gold talked his way through his monster field of 8,773 players in 2006.

Seth Palansky, the communications sports and entertainment director for Harrah’s Entertainment, attributes much of the ratings increase to this year’s new format, which held off the playing of the final table until all previous episodes had aired. He believes the buzz of “who will win” rather than “who won” has energized the casual fans of the game. The final nine players returned to the Rio in November to finish what they started this summer.

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This year’s main event also benefited from a deep run by two of the more entertaining professionals in the game, Phil Hellmuth and Mike Matusow. The “Poker Brat” and “The Mouth” finished in 45th and 30th place, respectively, and received plenty of air time.

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Wondering how this year’s World Series of Poker ratings surge compares with other major sports events and TV shows?

Well, the Oct. 28 episode of the WSOP main event garnered a 1.59 Nielsen rating — outdueling NBC’s National Heads-Up Poker Championship’s recent audiences. On April 27, NBC’s third episode of that tournament received a 1.0 Nielsen rating, down from 1.11 from 2007 and 1.49 from 2006.

Poker is still not all that close to the “big boys” in terms of ratings success. ESPN’s Monday Night Football between the Denver Broncos and the New England Patriots scored a 7.0 rating on Oct. 20, while ABC’s Bank of America 500 NASCAR event on Oct. 11 earned a 3.8 rating.

But the bright news is that poker ratings are getting closer to the political pundits’ shows. The Oct. 28 WSOP rating of 1.59 isn’t all that far off from Bill O’Reilly’s Oct. 22 episode of The O’Reilly Factor, which was good enough to be rated as the third-most-watched cable news program of that week when it brought Fox News a 2.9 Nielsen rating.

Oct. 28, 2008 WSOP episode: 1.59

NBC Heads-up episode 3 (April 27, 2008): 1.0
Same episode, 2007: 1.11, Same episode, 2006: 1.49

Oct. 11, 2008 NASCAR’s Bank of America 500 on ABC: 3.8

Oct. 20, 2008 Monday Night Football between Patriots and Broncos on ESPN: 7.0

Oct. 22 episode of The O’Reilly Factor on Fox News: 2.9

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