Sinclair's Third-Annual COMET FEST Fan Festival Draws 2.4 Million Viewers Including Highest Rated Programs of 2025 with Jurassic Park Trilogy

Comet Beats Bravo in Head-to-Head Jurassic Ratings Battle

BALTIMORE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Comet, the top destination on free TV for fans of sci-fi and fantasy entertainment franchises, today announced record-breaking results from its third annual COMET FEST fan festival, which aired August 14–16. This year’s event, themed around the iconic Jurassic Park franchise, delivered record engagement and significant year-over-year growth across key demographics.

With more than 2.4 million total viewers¹, tuning into the event, COMET FEST once again demonstrated the power of fan-first programming to drive audience loyalty and market-leading performance. This impressive performance included Comet’s top 3 highest-rated telecasts of the year².

Comet continues to deliver larger audiences than multiple cable networks and in a direct head-to-head comparison on Friday 8/15 at 7pm, Comet's airing of Jurassic Park 3 delivered 8% higher ratings than Bravo's Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom³.

This year, COMET FEST averaged 151,000 viewers ⁴ with a peak audience of 253,000⁵, up +39% year-over-year, with especially strong performance among female viewers. Ratings among women rose +63% from 2024 ⁴ with an overall increase in viewers by +22% among the top 10 DMAs⁶. Overall, COMET FEST 2025 grew the time period by +83%⁷.

The network also hosted an in-person COMET FEST event at the historic Fine Arts Theater in Beverly Hills on August 14, including a screening of Jurassic Park and a Q&A session with the ‘Hell Creek Hooligans’ Danny and Luke Phipps, recreational paleontologists and fossil enthusiasts, known for excavating dinosaur bones and teeth from the Hell Creek Formation in Montana. They brought samples of their finds and shared stories from the field.

COMET FEST will return in September 2026, themed around The Matrix with the broadcast of the first three films The Matrix, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions.

“COMET FEST continues to demonstrate the power of multicast networks’ ability to deliver significant ratings and audience reach. The record-breaking ratings for our third annual COMET FEST fan-first event, a salute to Jurassic Park, and the head-to-head wins against an established, well distributed cable network shows the strength of the Comet brand as the top destination for sci-fi and fantasy genre programming on advertiser supported television,” said Adam Ware, SVP Growth Networks, Sinclair. “We’re thrilled to see that Comet Fest has become a must-see annual event and can’t wait to expand the experience next year with The Matrix trilogy."

For more information, visit comettv.com and follow COMET across social media platforms.

About Sinclair:

Sinclair, Inc. (Nasdaq: SBGI) is a diversified media company and a leading provider of local news and sports. The Company owns, operates and/or provides services to 178 television stations in 81 markets affiliated with all major broadcast networks; owns Tennis Channel, the premium destination for tennis enthusiasts; multicast networks CHARGE, Comet, ROAR and The Nest. Sinclair’s AMP Media produces a growing portfolio of digital content and original podcasts. Additional information about Sinclair can be found at www.sbgi.net.

Category: General

1 Source: Nielsen L+SD P2+ reach, Comet 8/14/25 4pm-10pm, 8/15/25 4pm-9pm, 8/16/25 1pm-9pm

2 Source: Nielsen L+SD P2+ Imp, Comet 8/14 7pm, 8/16 7pm, 8/15 7pm, excludes holidays

3 Source: Nielsen L+SD P2+ Imp, Comet & Bravo 8/15/25 7-10pm

4 Source: Nielsen L+SD P2+ & W2+ Imp, Comet Fest 8/14-8/16/25 vs 7/31-8/3/24

5 Source: Nielsen L+SD P2+ & 25-54 Imp, Comet 8/14 9:30-10pm

6 Source: Nielsen L+SD P2+ Imp among top 10 DMAs, Comet Fest 8/14-8/16/25 vs 7/31-8/3/24

7 Source: Nielsen L+SD P2+ Imp, Comet 8/14/25 4pm-10pm, 8/15/25 4pm-9pm, 8/16/25 1pm-9pm vs 2025 time period average