2012 Scripps National Spelling Bee Becomes Most-Watched Ever on Cable TV

Thursday night's Scripps National Spelling Bee Final on ESPN, won by 14 year-old Snigdha Nandipati from San Diego, was seen by an average audience of 1.06 million viewers, based on a 0.8 rating (802,000 household impressions), making it the most-watched Spelling Bee Final ever on cable television, according to the Nielsen Company.

The 2012 Spelling Bee Final, won after Nandipati spelled the winning word 'guetapens' - which means ambush or trap, bests the 2011 Final (June 2, 2011) and the previous cable record for viewership with 952,000 viewers, based on a 0.7 coverage rating (674,000 households).

Most-Viewed National Spelling Bee Finals on Cable:

May 31, 2012, Spelling Bee Final, ESPN, 0.8 - 1,061,000
June 2, 2011, Final, ESPN, 0.7 - 952,000
June 2, 2005, Final, ESPN, 0.5 - 750,000
May 29, 1997, Final, ESPN, 0.6 - 709,000

Kansas City was the top market for May 31's Spelling Bee Final, delivering a 2.6 rating. Rounding out the top five were: Memphis (2.1), Birmingham (1.9), Norfolk (1.7), and West Palm Beach (1.6). San Diego, the winner's hometown, ranked as tied for 8th with a 1.4 rating.

The first two days of the Spelling Bee (May 30-31) on ESPN3 and WatchESPN across computers, smartphones, tablets and Xbox generated nearly two million minutes, up 75 percent compared to the event on ESPN3 on computers last year.

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