Sports Media Digest- November 28, 2012

http://sportsmediajournal.com/ Notre Dame/USC Most-Watched College Football Game in Six Years- ESPN reports that last Saturday’s Notre Dame/USC college football match-up was the most-watched game of the season and the most-watched since 2006. The game averaged 16 million viewers and a rating of 9.4, making it the most-watched Saturday night game on ABC ever and the most watched Notre Dame game since 1991. Sunday Night Football Highest Primetime Rated Program of the Week- Once again Sunday Night Football (SNF) on NBC was the highest rated primetime program on network television for the past week. The game was tops in adults, men and women 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54, total viewers, households and teens 12-17. Through 12 weeks SNF has an average rating of 12.5 and 20.8 million viewers, two percent below 2011 (12.8, 21.2 million) and 2010 (12.8, 21.3 million). NBC To Produce Notre Dame Special- Off the heels of Notre Dame’s undefeated regular season, NBC Sports is producing a special looking back at the Fighting Irish’s season. Undefeated: 2012 Notre Dame Football Season in Review, hosted by Liam McHugh will air Saturday, December 22 at 2 p.m. ET on NBC. MLS Games on NBCSN Gives Network Viewership Boost- The recently completed Major League Soccer (MLS) season on its new home on the NBC Sports Network (NBCSN) saw viewership 122% compared to the 2011 regular season of Fox Soccer Channel (151,000 average viewers vs. 68,000). Viewership was also up among male demos with Men 18-34 up 63% and Men 18-49 up 50%. Over the 41 total games (3 on NBC and 38 on NBCSN) 13.2 million total viewers tuned in, nearly five times Fox Soccer’s total audience for the 2011 season (2.7 million). MLB Network Coverage at Baseball’s Winter Meetings- The MLB Network is planning 25 hours of coverage next week of Baseball’s Winter Meetings in Nashville. Each morning next Monday through Thursday Matt Vasgersian and Harold Reynolds will host Hot Stove beginning at 9:00 a.m. ET. MLB Tonight will air each night from 3:00 p.m. ET and 6:00 p.m. ET with Greg Amsinger, Brian Kenny and Matt Yallof, analysts Larry Bowa, Peter Gammons, Dan Plesac and Reynolds, and insiders Jon Heyman, Ken Rosenthal and Tom Verducci. On-site episodes of Intentional Talk, hosted by Kevin Millar and Chris Rose will air live at 5:00 p.m. ET from Monday through Wednesday. Next ESPN 30 for 30 Short on Grantland Features The Arnold Palmer- The next 30 for 30 short is not available on Grantland.com looks at the history of The Arnold Palmer…not the golfer, but the drink he helped create. You can see the short here. Sports Illustrated Cover for This Week- Here is the cover of this week’s edition of Sports Illustrated: