ESPN2 earned the largest audience for an MLS opener in four years. In other news, viewership dropped for the NASCAR Xfinity Series from Las Vegas, and ESPN slipped under one million viewers for the Suns/Nets NBA game.
ESPN2 Airs Most-Watched MLS Opener Since 2011
- Sunday’s Orlando City SC/New York City FC Major League Soccer match earned 539,000 viewers on ESPN2, the most-watched MLS opener on any network since Galaxy/Sounders on ESPN in 2011 (641K). Later in the night, Fox Sports 1 drew 289,000 for Sounders/Revolution and 268,000 for Sporting Kansas City/Red Bulls. The first match of the season, Galaxy/Fire on Friday night, drew 341,000 on UniMás. (via mlssoccer.com)
Xfinity Series From Vegas Down on FS1
- NASCAR Xfinity Series racing from Las Vegas drew 1.9 million viewers on Fox Sports 1 Saturday afternoon, down 5% from last year on ESPN2 (2.0M), down 9% from the 2013 race, also on ESPN2 (2.1M), and the smallest audience for the race since at least 2007. All three Xfinity Series races on FS1 have had year-over-year declines. With that said, viewership increased 26% from the previous week’s race from Atlanta (1.5M). (via ShowBuzz Daily)
Suns/Nets Weak on ESPN
- The Suns/Nets NBA regular season game drew 837,000 viewers on ESPN Friday, down 23% from Grizzlies/Bulls last year (1.1M), down 45% from Hawks/Celtics in 2013 (1.5M), and the fourth-smallest audience of the season on national TV (excludes NBA TV). Six NBA games have earned fewer than one million viewers this year, topping last year’s full-season total of five. Later in the night, Mavericks/Warriors drew 1.3 million — down 28% from Pacers/Rockets last year (1.8M) and down 23% from Rockets/Warriors in 2013 (1.7M). (via ShowBuzz Daily)
