With some of the novelty wearing off, viewership for NBC’s second Premier Boxing Champions telecast declined by double-digits from last month’s debut.
The second edition of the Premier Boxing Champions series on NBC earned a 1.8 final rating and 2.9 million viewers Saturday night, down 15% in ratings and viewership from the debut telecast in March (2.1, 3.4M). Keep in mind that telecast was the most-watched boxing event on a broadcast network since 1998.
Despite the decline, the telecast earned respectable numbers for fighting on broadcast television. It scored a larger audience than five of the past seven editions of the UFC on FOX and easily topped recent afternoon boxing coverage — including a PBC telecast on CBS the previous weekend (1.0, 1.4M).
Head-to-head, the PBC was outdrawn by NASCAR on FOX in ratings (2.9 to 1.8), viewership (4.8M to 2.9M) and the adults 18-49 demographic (1.0 to 0.8). That NASCAR telecast, it should be noted, was the lowest rated ever on FOX.
(Wknd. numbers via TV Media Insights)
