At 70 million copies sold — and counting, since its release in 1988, “Madden NFL Football” is the most popular sports video game of all time.
What’s driving the wild success of EA Sports’ star product? 
A marketing vision that combines a deep understanding of the game’s core fan base with an innovative, “three-screen” strategy that leverages TV, online, and mobile phone outlets for the game, Matt Foran of Nielsen Sports, writes in the November issue of Nielsen’s “Consumer Insight” online newsletter.

Each week, Nielsen Sports’ analysts offer their take on the biggest sports media headlines.
Professional baseball, football, basketball, hockey — and even NASCAR — all converge in October, making it one of the year’s busiest sports months.  Unfortunately, that plethora of options frequently presents sports fans with difficult TV viewing decisions.
Take this past Sunday — when NBC’s Sunday Night Football carried live coverage of the San Diego Chargers playing the New England Patriots.  Meanwhile, Game 3 of the MLB National League Championship Series aired live on FOX.

Thursday night’s NFL Kickoff Game, between the defending Super Bowl Champion New York Giants and the Washington Redskins, attracted 13.5 million viewers, the smallest audience since 2002.
 
 
 

YEAR
NETWORK
MATCHUP
US HOUSEHOLD
AA%*
VIEWERS (P2+)

2007
NBC
New Orleans at Indianapolis
11.4
17,471,000

2006
NBC
Miami at Pittsburgh
12.6
19,043,000

2005
ABC
Oakland at New England
11.7
18,008,000

2004
ABC
Indianapolis at New England
11.4
16,888,000

2003
ABC
N.Y. Jets at Washington
12.9
19,149,000

2002
ESPN
San Francisco at N.Y. Giants
7.6
10,799,000

*US HH AA% : Percentage of US households – Average Audience during entire telecast

The wait is finally over for anxious football fans, as the NFL’s annual Thursday Night Kickoff Game, tonight on NBC, will usher in this year’s NFL season.  The defending Super Bowl Champion New York Giants will take on their divisional foe, the Washington Redskins. 
Below are historical U.S. television ratings for NFL Kickoff Games since 2002.
In terms of TV ratings, the 2003 game, which drew 19.1 million U.S. viewers, is the year to beat.  Last year’s game attracted approximately 17.5 million viewers.

YEAR
NETWORK
MATCHUP
US HOUSEHOLD
AA%*
VIEWERS (P2+)

2007
NBC
New Orleans at Indianapolis
11.4
17,471,000

2006
NBC
Miami at Pittsburgh
12.6
19,043,000

2005
ABC
Oakland at New England
11.7
18,008,000

2004
ABC
Indianapolis at New England
11.4
16,888,000

2003
ABC
N.Y. Jets at Washington
12.9
19,149,000

2002
ESPN
San Francisco …