I’ve been following Nielsen’s cable coverage estimates for nearly a decade. Usually it’s best to focus on the long term trend and ignore month-to-month differences. The long term trend is down and none of the networks dispute that, but the acceleration of the declines for many of the networks over the last few months has been eye-popping.
Two tables below: first is the change versus the September estimates, second is the change versus the November estimates.
Nielsen cable (includes satellite & telco services) coverage estimates for the nationally measured cable sports networks for December 2016:
If you’re on a mobile phone these tables should be much easier to read if you tilt your phone to landscape mode.
| Network name | Dec 2016 Estimate (000) | Sept 2016 Estimate (000) | Change Since Sept (000) |
|---|---|---|---|
| BEIN SPORT | 23,317 | 24,149 | -832 |
| BEIN SPORT ESPANOL | 18,267 | 18,256 | 11 |
| ESPN | 88,401 | 89,856 | -1,455 |
| ESPN2 | 88,283 | 89,740 | -1,457 |
| ESPNU | 69,815 | 71,548 | -1,733 |
| FOX DEPORTES | 21,795 | 22,564 | -769 |
| FS1 | 85,358 | 85,931 | -573 |
| FS2 | 50,334 | 51,806 | -1,472 |
| GOLF CHANNEL | 77,638 | 76,231 | 1,407 |
| MLB NETWORK | 65,503 | 67,116 | -1,613 |
| NBA-TV | 52,654 | 54,367 | -1,713 |
| NBC SPORTS NETWORK | 83,197 | 84,520 | -1,323 |
| NFL NETWORK | 71,612 | 70,892 | 720 |
| UNIVISION DEPORTES | 47,154 | 47,887 | -733 |
| Total Cable | 98,103 | 99,250 | -1,147 |
| Network name | Dec 2016 Estimated # of Homes (000) | Coverage % | Nov 2016 Estimated # of Homes (000) | Change Since Nov (000) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BEIN SPORT | 23,317 | 20% | 23,542 | -225 |
| BEIN SPORT ESPANOL | 18,267 | 15% | 18,358 | -91 |
| ESPN | 88,401 | 75% | 88,956 | -555 |
| ESPN2 | 88,283 | 75% | 88,878 | -595 |
| ESPNU | 69,815 | 59% | 70,525 | -710 |
| FOX DEPORTES | 21,795 | 18% | 21,906 | -111 |
| FS1 | 85,358 | 72% | 85,616 | -258 |
| FS2 | 50,334 | 43% | 50,808 | -474 |
| GOLF CHANNEL | 77,638 | 66% | 75,378 | 2,260 |
| MLB NETWORK | 65,503 | 55% | 66,254 | -751 |
| NBA-TV | 52,654 | 44% | 53,072 | -418 |
| NBC SPORTS NETWORK | 83,197 | 70% | 83,817 | -620 |
| NFL NETWORK | 71,612 | 60% | 71,660 | -48 |
| UNIVISION DEPORTES | 47,154 | 40% | 47,397 | -243 |
| Total Cable | 98,103 | 83% | 98,388 | -285 |
All data ©Nielsen (data provided by a variety of TV network sources and not directly from Nielsen)
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