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Thursday, January 28, 2010

SIMON SEZ: Kulick NOT the only reason for big TV rating

OK, there are going to be naysayers to my analysis of why the PBA Tournament of Champions telecast Sunday generated the 2nd highest rating since the new era of the PBA began in 2000.

Kelly Kulick becoming the first woman to with a PBA Tour event is the first thing that will come to most everyone's mind.

But after 33 years in broadcasting as a producer, anchor, reporter and manager, I had to assess audience data with my job, so I now will share with you more factors that contribute to a show's success or failure, analysis you will not read anywhere else.

Bowling: How to Master the Game

First analysis: The telecast did NOT compete directly against NFL telecasts. The AFC championship game started an hour after Kulick's win. Therefore a lot of television sets were tuned to ESPN instead of FOX or CBS. Remember, Nielsen measures its rating on the number of television sets - not the number of people watching.

Too often, I've seen TV sets in bowling centers on Sundays dialed into the NFL. Success in TV is based on viewer habit. Watching NFL games is a habit. Watching NFL games is "must-watch" TV. Many times I've had to ask bowling centers to switch. They were in the habit of rarely switching. This past Sunday, ESPN stood out because there was no need to switch channels.

Second analysis: The key element in building viewers in television is to have a strong lead-in show and then force the audience to stay with you and not turn the channel. ESPN's NFL show leading into the PBA telecast is a strong lead-in. And with no NFL game competiting against the Tournament of Champions, viewers held the channel and didn't switch. If you don't think this is important, ask NBC-TV stations what their 10 p.m. (Central Time) news ratings were with Jay Leno's show as the lead-in. Most reported a drop of 25% because of that failed experiment.

Third analysis: Here's where Kulick's appearance paid off with added numbers. The Internet. Word of mouth. The PBA is at a disadvantage because it rarely gets advance publicity in sport sections and local sportscasts. Heck, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch sports section, edited by my close friend Don Reed didn't include the Detroit PBA tournaments in the TV listings because the shows were taped! That's how picky they are. So the Kulick "buzz" was real and real people got the word out.

Perspective facts: The PBA Tournament of Champions earned a 1.5 Nielsen Survey Index. That's a very good number. It's the 2nd biggest audience in ten years. Simon Sez beginning in 2002 wrote the PBA's real target average should be a 1 rating. That's a little over 1 million U.S. households.

Past years have seen Nielsen season averages of .7-.9. The NHL as a comparison has generated some ratings of .5, including St. Louis which is an NHL city. So a .8 isn't bad. A 1.0 is better. A 1.5 is outstanding. A 2.0 would be off the chart.

Prior to the Tournament of Champions, the PBA telecast of the World Championship (live) Dec. 13 and the Earl Anthony tournament earlier this month each earned a .6 rating. The Kulick show more than doubled the previous two telecasts combined. That's how big her win was for the PBA.

Because the remaining shows for the year don't have the NFL to compete against. All it needs a buzz each week like we saw last weekend, and perhaps the PBA can get to that 1.0 Nielsen average for the whole season.

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Tuesday, January 26, 2010

SIMON SEZ: Some tips for Tom

Bowling Hood has become friends with Tom Clark, because Facebook is one of the 5 greatest inventions in the Internet era.

We correspond there. And now Kelly has a Facebook Fan Page.

BOWLING HOOD saw her Monday on Fox News Channel Studio B with Shepard Smith. You've already seen her clip from the CBS Early Show.

Where can Tom send her now? Here's some good ones that will go a LONG WAY to promote the sport:

OPRAH: She's worth more than any single NYC television station. Tom deserves a bonus if he could pull that off, but a number no higher than the winning prize in a Tour stop.

THE BEST DAMN SPORTS SHOW PERIOD: Rose, Salley and the crew are dialed into hardcore sports fans. A Kulick challenge to them on the lanes would be must-watched television.

HANNITY: You thing Bowling Hood is nutz. Nope. His segment in the second half hour, The Great American Panel is a perfect spot for Kelly. She's a great American story.

THE SUPER BOWL: The biggest audience in television. Let her flip the coin. Sing the National Anthem. Anything!

Congrats to Kelly for the win, but congrats to Tom too. Why? He spent a lot of time marketing women for the PBA and the telecasts. Tom took a lot of heat from naysayers last year for the Women's Series.

BOWLING HOOD'S reply to the naysayers: Too bad you don't get it. Kulick, Pluhowsky, Lynda Barnes (hope she can cheer hubby Chris up), Johnson - they can flat out play.

Friday, January 15, 2010

UNDER THE RADAR - PBA's Rob Glaser quits RealNetworks


Unless your a business geek, this would pass by most bowlers. Glaser founded RealNetworks 16 years ago and it made him a ton of money. But funding $10 million to the now-defunct and bankrupt Air America Network helped change his portfolio a bit.

The L.A. Times story says it all.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010