The NHRA season opened on a strong note last weekend. In other news, the NHL had a rough week on NBC and NBCSN and Bulls ratings have dropped by more than a quarter on CSN Chicago.
NHRA Opens Season With Third-Largest Audience in 15 Years
- The NHRA season opener from Pomona (CA) delivered a 0.8 final rating and 1.2 million viewers on the FOX broadcast network Sunday afternoon, up 100% in ratings and 91% in viewership from last year on Fox Sports 1 (0.4, 640K) and up 100% and 101% respectively from tape-delayed coverage on ESPN2 in 2015 (0.4, 608K). It was the third-most watched NHRA telecast since 2002, behind Atlanta (1.4M) and Las Vegas (1.3M) on FS1 last year. It topped the competing NHL telecast on NBC in both ratings (0.8 to 0.7) and viewership (1.22M to 1.16M).
Downer Week For NHL on NBC, NBCSN
- Red Wings/Wild had a 0.7 final rating and 1.2 million viewers on the NHL on NBC Sunday, down 30% in ratings and 29% in viewership from Flyers/Capitals in an earlier slot last year (1.0, 1.6M). All three NBC games that can be compared to last year have declined. Later, Canadiens/Bruins had a 0.3 and 495,000 on NBCSN — flat in ratings and down a fraction of a percent in viewership from the same matchup in 2015 (0.3, 497K). There was no comparable window last year. In other action, Blues/Red Wings had 358,000 (-46%) and Panthers/Sharks 195,000 Wednesday night, Rangers/Blue Jackets 226,000 on Monday, Lightning/Wild 454,000 last Friday, and Islanders/Flyers just 148,000 last Thursday (-41%).
Bulls Ratings Down Double-Digits on CSN Chicago
- Chicago Bulls NBA regular season games have averaged a 2.12 rating on Comcast SportsNet Chicago, down 28% from the team’s full-season average last year. If the season ended today, it would be the team’s lowest average on the network since the 2008-09 season (2.03). As has been the case with the Cavaliers, Blackhawks and other Cleveland or Chicago-based teams, the World Series had an impact on the early numbers — though only one game, the season-opener, faced direct competition with the Cubs/Indians series.
(Numbers from ShowBuzz Daily 2.13, 2.14a, 2.14b, 2.16; Crain’s Chicago 2.15)
