WSOP TV ratings up 10%
Positive news for poker as ESPN saw a sizeable increase this year for their coverage of the Main Event final table.
WickedChopsPoker has revealed that the live broadcast of the WSOP Main Event this month showed improved Nielsen ratings. The first day of the broadcast, which saw nine players become three, was 10-13% higher than last year, with around 495,000 viewers.
The final broadcast, which played down to a winner, received 1.16 million, which was actually a 6% decrease on the previous year. However, this is almost certainly due to the fact that the final three players were European, and the majority of ESPN viewers are American.
This was still better ratings than most regular season CBB, MLB and NBA games on ESPN. And, as WickedChops pointed out, the WSOP has a much bigger rebroadcast potential, and will likely be repeated a lot throughout the year.
More engaged, more online viewers
The highest recorded ratings for the WSOP Main Event were 1.6 million viewers in 2004, which was obviously just after the world wide poker boom started. However, this year's ratings were for the 16 hours of combined live footage over two days, compared to the two hour packaged highlight shows that previously made up the WSOP broadcast. This suggests that poker is becoming more engaging as a spectator sport for those that do watch.
The increase in ratings is also no doubt due to the fact that many people chose to watch the broadcast online. Last year Nielsen added web viewers to their ratings system. This is a trend that is only going to continue for the WSOP broadcast, as live streams are becoming the choice for more serious poker fans.
Meanwhile, champion Martin Jacobson perhaps has not attracted as much mainstream media attention than some of his predecessors as yet. However he did recently appear on CNBC news in short interview segment.
What did you think of the WSOP broadcast? Do you think poker is gaining more interest now that doors are opening in the US? Let us know in the comments box:
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