Ratings Drop for Main Event Final
The ratings are in for the Tuesday WSOP Main Event final table on ESPN. The episode attracted 2.1 Million viewers for a 1.8 rating. Last year’s WSOP Main drew a 1.9 rating. What this means is that last year 1.9 Million households tuned into the Main Event. This year, only 1.8 Million tuned in. This resulted in a .1 drop after a 50% gain in rating last year.
This is actually surprising to many that expected ratings to skyrocket due to the inclusion of Phil Ivey in the final table. There was also numerous complaints by those that attempted to TiVo the event. Normally, ESPN’s broadcasts are 2 hours long. The final table ended up running 2 hours and 30 minutes. As a result, many TiVo devices quit recording after two hours. This resulted in viewers not being able to watch heads-up play between Moon and Cada. ESPN officials assured viewers that the final would be rerun in the near future.
ESPN was able to spin the numbers to pull out some positives. First, the average for household viewing the WSOP over the entire 15 week schedule grew by 9% to 1,024,901. Viewership increased 13% to 1,228,008. The 25-54 male demographic increased 13% over 2008.
An announcement has not been made regarding the 2010 final table. While the crowds were huge, the fact that it did not increase ratings may be enough to discontinue the concept. We will keep you updated on all the news regarding the 2010 WSOP.
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