ESPN had double-digit declines for MLB on Sunday and Monday night. In other news, the NASCAR Xfinity Series posted a middle-of-the-road audience on FS1, and the WNBA got off to a better start on ESPN2.
Double-Digit Drops For Sunday, Monday Night Baseball
- The Reds/Cubs Sunday Night Baseball game earned 1.5 million viewers on ESPN, down 17% from Red Sox/Tigers last year (1.8M), down 14% from Cardinals/Reds in 2013 (1.7M), and the season’s third-smallest audience for a Sunday night game (11 telecasts). It had tougher competition from the NBA Finals, which drew five million more viewers than on the comparable nights the past two years. The following night, Braves/Red Sox drew 608,000 on Monday Night Baseball — down 25% from Dodgers/Reds last year (812K) and down 40% from Red Sox/Rays in 2013 (1.0M). (via ShowBuzz Daily [1], [2])
Xfinity Series Posts Middle of the Road Numbers on FS1
- NASCAR Xfinity Series racing from Michigan drew 1.4 million viewers on Fox Sports 1 Saturday afternoon, ranking fifth out of the nine Xfinity races on the network this season. Viewership for last year’s comparable race on ESPN was not available. (via ShowBuzz Daily)
WNBA Opens With Double-Digit Gains on ESPN2
- ESPN2 averaged 278,000 viewers for Sunday’s Sky/Fever and Lynx/Mercury WNBA regular season games, up 11% from the network’s first two games last year, which aired nine days apart (251K), and down 24% from the first two games in 2013, which aired on Memorial Day (366K). Las Vegas was the top market for the doubleheader (0.6), followed by Washington D.C., Richmond and Raleigh-Durham (0.5 in each) and Minneapolis-St. Paul (0.4). (ESPN)
