Despite an uptick in overnights, Mets/Nationals was the latest Sunday Night Baseball game to decline in viewership. In other news, NASCAR’s Xfinity Series hit a season-low on NBCSN and the NBA Africa Game gave ESPN a bump over its previous Saturday morning fare.
Mets/Nats Continues Recent Slump For Sunday Night Baseball
- The Mets/Nationals MLB Sunday Night Baseball game drew 2.0 million viewers on ESPN, down 15% from Dodgers/Giants last year (2.3M) and down 16% from Cardinals/Braves in 2013 (2.4M). Excluding rainouts, six of the past seven Sunday night games have had declines in viewership. In other weekend action, Yankees/White Sox drew 484,000 on TBS earlier Sunday, and Saturday’s Angels/Dodgers game had 562,000 on Fox Sports 1.
Season-Low For NASCAR Xfinity Series
- NASCAR Xfinity Series racing from Iowa drew 1.0 million viewers on NBCSN Saturday night, down 22% from last year (1.3M) and down 31% from 2013 (1.5M), both on ESPN. Excluding rainouts, the race ranks as the least-watched Xfinity Series telecast of the season — falling below the previous mark set by Richmond in April (1.07M to 1.04M).
NBA Africa Game Improves Over Previous Week
- The inaugural NBA Africa Game drew 463,000 viewers on ESPN Saturday morning, up 28% from SportsCenter a similar timeslot the previous week (363K). The following day, the finals of The Basketball Tournament earned 318,000 viewers.
