Viewership for the Women’s NCAA Tournament is about the same as last year. In other news, NASCAR Xfinity Series viewership eked out a slight bump last weekend and the NHRA posted a second-straight decline.
Women’s Tourney About on Par With Last Year
- First and second round coverage of the Women’s NCAA Tournament averaged 333,000 viewers on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and WatchESPN, down 3% from last year (343K) but up 43% from 2015 (235K), figures that do not include streaming. This year’s coverage included an extra window on ESPNU Monday night, which had a tournament low 92,000 viewers opposite concurrent action on ESPN2. Excluding that telecast, the TV audience is actually up 1% to 346,000, a four-year high. The top draw thus far was Monday’s early evening window on ESPN2, which featured Connecticut-Syracuse and had 751,000 viewers — up 24% from last year (605K).
NASCAR Xfinity Series Ekes Up on FOX
- NASCAR Xfinity Series racing from Phoenix delivered a 1.2 final rating and 1.9 million viewers on the FOX broadcast network last Sunday, flat in ratings and up 2% in viewership from last year (1.2, 1.8M) and down 25% and 26% respectively from 2015 (1.6, 2.5M). It was just the third of eight Cup or Xfinity Series races to increase over last year.
NHRA Down For Second Straight Race
- Live NHRA eliminations from Gainesville, Fla., scored a 0.3 final rating and 439,000 viewers on Fox Sports 1 last Sunday, down 17% in ratings (from 0.35 to 0.29) and 15% in viewership (from 514K) year-over-year and down 40% and 50% respectively from 2015 on ESPN2 (0.5, 878K). It was the second-straight race to decline.
