2015 Ratings Wrap: NFL Dominates Year of Milestones

List of top sporting events with NFL included available on page 1, ranking of top events by sport available on page 3.

50 Most-Watched Non-NFL Events

#	Sport	Event	Rtg.	Vwrs.	Net
1	CFB	Ohio St./Oregon National Championship	18.6	34.15M	ESPN Megacast
2	CFB	Ohio St./Alabama Playoff semifinal (Jan.)	15.2	28.27M	ESPN
3	CBB	Duke/Wisconsin National Championship	16.0	28.26M	CBS
4	CFB	Oregon/Florida St. Playoff semifinal (Jan.)	14.8	28.16M	ESPN
5	FIFA	USA/Japan Women’s World Cup final	—	26.70M	FOX, Telemundo
6	NBA	Warriors/Cavaliers NBA Finals Game 6	13.4	23.25M	ABC
7	CBB	Wisconsin/Kentucky Final Four	12.4	22.63M	TBS, TNT, TruTV
8	NBA	Cavaliers/Warriors NBA Finals Game 5	11.8	20.86M	ABC
9	NBA	Warriors/Cavaliers NBA Finals Game 4	11.7	19.84M	ABC
10	NBA	Cavaliers/Warriors NBA Finals Game 2	10.8	19.17M	ABC
11	NBA	Warriors/Cavaliers NBA Finals Game 3	11.1	18.77M	ABC
12	Horse	Belmont Stakes Race portion	11.2	18.60M	NBC
13	CFB	Alabama/MSU Playoff semifinal (Dec.)	9.6	18.55M	ESPN
14	NBA	Cavaliers/Warriors NBA Finals Game 1	10.6	17.77M	ABC
15	MLB	Royals/Mets World Series Game 5	10.0	17.21M	FOX
16	Horse	Kentucky Derby Race portion	9.6	16.00M	NBC
17	CFB	Clemson/Oklahoma Playoff semifinal (Dec.)	9.0	15.64M	ESPN
18	CBB	Duke/MSU Final Four	8.7	15.31M	TBS, TNT, TruTV
19	MLB	Mets/Royals World Series Game 1	9.0	14.94M	FOX
20	CBB	Kentucky/Notre Dame Elite Eight	8.4	14.75M	TBS
21	CBB	Duke/Gonzaga Elite Eight	8.9	14.75M	CBS
22	Golf	The Masters Final round	8.8	14.23M	CBS
23	MLB	Mets/Royals World Series Game 2	8.3	13.72M	FOX
24	MLB	Royals/Mets World Series Game 4	7.8	13.59M	FOX
25	NSCS	Daytona 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup	7.7	13.36M	FOX
26	MLB	Royals/Mets World Series Game 3	7.9	13.21M	FOX
27	CFB	Alabama/Florida SEC Championship	7.8	12.76M	CBS
28	NBA	Cavaliers/Warriors Christmas special	5.7	11.17M	ABC
29	CFB	LSU/Alabama Regular season	6.4	11.06M	CBS
30	CFB	MSU/Ohio St. Regular season	6.6	11.05M	ABC
31	MLB	All-Star Game	6.6	10.91M	FOX
32	CFB	Ohio St./Michigan Regular season	6.4	10.83M	ABC
33	CFB	Ohio St./Va. Tech Regular season	6.0	10.59M	ESPN
34	CBB	MSU/Louisville Elite Eight	6.7	10.56M	CBS
35	CBB	Wichita St./Kansas Second round	6.3	9.97M	CBS
36	CFB	MSU/Iowa Big Ten Championship	5.7	9.82M	FOX
37	FIFA	USA/Germany Women’s World Cup semi	—	9.60M	FOX
38	NSCS	Atlanta 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup	5.6	9.50M	FOX
39	CBB	Kentucky/Cincinnati Second round	6.1	9.47M	CBS
40	CFB	Alabama/Auburn Regular season	5.3	9.30M	CBS
41	MLB	Mets/Cubs NLCS Game 3	5.8	9.22M	TBS
42	CFB	MSU/Baylor Cotton Bowl	5.2	9.09M	ESPN
43	Golf	The Masters Third round	5.8	8.90M	CBS
44	NBA	Rockets/Warriors West Final Game 5	5.6	8.89M	ESPN
45	Horse	Preakness Stakes Race portion	5.5	8.88M	NBC
46	CBB	Wisconsin/Arizona Elite Eight	5.2	8.80M	TBS
47	CBB	Duke/SDSU Second round	5.6	8.59M	CBS
48	CBB	Arizona/Ohio St. Second round	5.4	8.38M	CBS
49	MLB	Cubs/Pirates NL Wild Card	5.0	8.30M	TBS
50	NBA	Warriors/Rockets West Final Game 4	5.0	8.28M	ESPN

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Tags: List of Most-Watched Sporting Events

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Jon Lewis

Jon Lewis has been covering the sports media industry on a daily basis since 2006 as the founder and main writer of Sports Media Watch. You can contact him here or on the social media websites X (Twitter) or Bluesky.

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Comments 7

Muttley70 says:

11 years ago

I wonder if Mark Cuban will still be popping off about college basketball or maybe he has to shut up.I am always amused that a certain segment of NBA types and talking heads on pro sports radio feel the need to bash college basketball and somehow try to diminish the relevance of the NCAA Tournament. Look if you do not like NCAA Basketball that is fine, but shut up when it comes to trying to talk down the tournament.
- Tom Ado says:
  
  11 years ago
  
  The NCAA tournament is huge. But outside March, college basketball doesn’t come close to touching the NBA in relevance and there’s no denying that.
  - Muttley70 says:
    
    11 years ago
    
    It is true college basketball is a tournament sport, but the NBA season is too long and other than Xmas (not much competition) really doesn’t get all that great ratings until the playoffs. If it is one thing college basketball and the NBA share there’s a glut of regular season games that dilute the product.
    
    I would argue that college basketball regular season has a strong broad base appeal to fans of the specific schools and conferences and thus gets diluted when you look at the overall broader picture instead of the individual markets. Those markets tend to be smaller/rural than the larger Urban NBA markets. The same thing happens to college football on Saturday when you have 5-6 games going on at the same time. College sports are always going to be local and geographical until you get to the championship games (Football and Basketball) when you draw in the casual fan and unite the college fans.
    
    The biggest gripe I HAVE IS WITH SKIP BAYLESS and with certain talk radio hosts you hear on CBS Sports Radio/Fox Radio that only want to talk NBA. They always try to put down the NCAA tournament and “needs to be improved” or “fixed”. If it’s so overrated then why was the NCAA tournament 12 out of the 50 MOST WATCHED Non-NFL events. Like I said enjoy watching what you enjoy, but why the need to start this false comparison argument.
    
    Why must people not only like their sport, but feel the need to bash or talk down someone else’s sport?
- jerrytsao says:
  
  11 years ago
  
  It’s more of the excitement of football-style tourney for CBB drawing so much attention during March-April, outside that period the College BB are not so much relevant as the pro game, unlike College Football to NFL.
jerrytsao says:

11 years ago

Now it’s officially 2016 for me, great list as always Paulsen.
- Paulsen says:
  
  11 years ago
  
  Thanks for reading, always appreciated.
  - jerrytsao says:
    
    11 years ago
    
    No prob, just one more thing to perfect the list “50 Most-Watched Sporting Events of 2015“

SMW Podcast

Bomani Jones joins the pod, plus thoughts on Ernie Johnson's exit, World Series ratings and more

0:000:00

Nielsen has reprocessed the viewership for NBC’s four NFL games from Week 1-3 of the season. The Patriots-Seahawks Kickoff Game has been updated to 25.2 million, up from an originally-reported 25.1 million. The Week 1 Cowboys-Giants “Sunday Night Football” game has been updated to 25.82 million, up from 25.66 million. Colts-Chiefs the following week has been updated to 24.43 million, up from 24.29 million. Finally, Rams-Broncos in Week 3 has been updated to 20.96 million, up from 20.77 million.