More Than 20 Million Tune In To “National Dog Show Presented By Purina®”

Thanksgiving Day Special Hits Major Audience Benchmark Again As Man’s Best Friends Takes Rightful Place Alongside Parade, Football

“The National Dog Show Presented By Purina®” delivered a total audience of over 20 million viewers for the third year in a row Thanksgiving Day, further cementing its dominant stature as America’s most popular canine showcase.

Based on data released by The Nielsen Company, the two-hour special registered a national rating of 5.1, equal to 2014, and a total audience of 20.5 million.  Combined with the Friday night primetime encore broadcast, The National Dog Show attracted a total audience of 26.5 million viewers, a 2 percent increase over 2014.

“Families look forward to watching The National Dog Show following the Macy’s Parade before football takes over the day,” offered Jon Miller, president of programming for NBC Sports and NBCSN, who created the show in 2002. “Families love their dogs and that affinity extends to the canine stars of our show.  And John O’Hurley, David Frei, Mary Carillo and, this year, Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir, help make it a special holiday tradition.”

The Kennel Club of Philadelphia hosted-show has now equaled or exceeded its national Nielsen rating in five of the past six years.   Among the top-rated markets were Tampa (7.1), Denver (7.1), Orlando (6.9), Cleveland (6.7), Washington D.C. (6.5), Boston (6.5) and New York City (6.3).

Digital results were also impressive. Once again, NBC provided a live stream of the Thanksgiving Day telecast across desktop and mobile TV devices through NBC Sports Live Extra. This year NBC Sports Digital was able to add connected TVs (Apple, Roku) to its growing National Dog Show distribution platforms for live streaming.

NBC Sports also leveraged its powerful Yahoo Sports distribution partnership that helped generate over 250,000 video-on-demand starts, accounting for over 460K minutes of watched – and sponsored by Purina – highlights.  A short form video of the Sporting Group, for example, attracted 18% of the National Dog Show-related VOD views; a Best In Show clip 5% of the overall highlight consumption.

The TV special is hosted by O’Hurley, the television personality best known for his role as catalog king J. Peterman in “Seinfeld.” His everyman, whimsical approach is complemented by the expertise of Frei, America’s most prominent authority on all things canine and the host of the famed Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show on USA Network.  The show features competition among 1,700 of America’s finest show dogs along with features and vignettes on interesting breeds, therapy dogs and pet health and wellness.

This year, the Best In Show champion is Charlie, a Skye Terrier from Ocala, Fla., the #1-ranked Terrier and Skye Terrier in America. Since that first year in 2002, the broadcast has named 14 Best In Show canines from among some 18,000 competitors while introducing America to 40 new breeds and providing some of the most endearing and memorable video on TV, both in the ring and behind the scenes.

With heavy interest from dog lovers and breed enthusiasts around the world, www.NationalDogShow.com offers a look at every dog in the group competition, featuring the walks, examination and judging of over 170 breed-winning canines.

The Kennel Club of Philadelphia staged its first show in the 1800s and has operated the Philadelphia cluster of shows annually since 1933.  It takes place each November at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks/Valley Forge, PA.

Short URL: http://caninechronicle.com/?p=95303

Posted by chesliepickett on Dec 16 2015. Filed under Featured, The Buzz. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.