- Over 9 million viewers tuned in to watch golf on a Monday afternoon. The U.S. Open playoff on June 16 drew a 6.7 rating with 9.1 million viewers, making it the third highest rated and most watched sports program of the week, behind Game 6 of the NBA Finals (10.7, 16.9 mil) and the NBA Finals trophy presentation (8.5, 13.4 mil). The 6.7 for the Monday playoff is higher than the 6.4 for last year’s Sunday afternoon final round.
- The North Side/South Side battle gave ESPN a shot in the arm last weekend. ESPN drew 2.96 million viewers for White Sox/Cubs on Sunday night, up 28% from the comparable Tigers/Braves game last year, and the most watched Sunday Night Baseball game since Mets/Yankees on May 18. So far this season, Sunday Night Baseball is averaging 2.7 million viewers, down 12% from last year.
- In the battle of open wheel racing series last Sunday, the IRL easily came out on top. The Ethanol Indycar 250 drew a 1.1 rating on ABC, the same as last year. By comparison, the F1 French Grand Prix airing virtually at the same time on FOX drew a 0.6 rating. The two events combined for a 1.7 rating — less than half of the 3.7 NASCAR drew on cable.
