News: Women's NCAA Tournament Ratings & More

Women’s NCAA Tournament ratings are up, despite declines for UConn’s first two games. In other news, more viewers tuned in for the Indian Wells tennis finals, and fewer for the NASCAR Xfinity Series and NHRA.

Women’s NCAA Tournament Ratings Up, UConn Windows Down

The first two rounds of the Women’s NCAA Tournament averaged 352,000 viewers per window on ESPN and ESPN2, up 6% from last year (333K) and the highest average since 2014.

Even with viewership up overall, the two windows to feature UConn have both declined. Monday’s early window, which included the Huskies’ win over Quinnipiac, had 557,000 viewers — the largest audience of the tournament, but down 26% from last year (751K). Saturday’s early window, which included UConn’s 88-point rout of Saint Francis, declined 6% from last year’s fully-national UConn-Albany game (395K).

DelPo-Fed Boosts Indian Wells Ratings (Corrected)

Sunday’s Indian Wells tennis finals — Juan Martin del Potro vs. Roger Federer and Naomi Osaka vs. Darya Kasatkina — had a 0.36 rating and 540,000 viewers on ESPN, up 20% in ratings and 30% in viewership from last year (0.30, 414K) but down 12% and 10% respectively from 2016 (0.41, 600K). The 2016 finals included Serena Williams.

CORRECTION 3.23: Post originally said Indian Wells finals declined from last year, but that was due to mistaking Saturday’s numbers as Sunday’s.

NASCAR Xfinity Ratings Down Too

The NASCAR Xfinity Series from Fontana (Ca.) had a 0.75 rating and 1.2 million viewers on FS1 Saturday, down 19% in ratings and viewership from last year (0.93, 1.460M) and down 23% and 19% respectively from 2016 (0.98, 1.459M).

Mirroring the trend for this year’s Cup Series races, every NASCAR Xfinity Series telecast this season has declined double-digits to a multi-year low.

NHRA Slips at Gainesville

Last Sunday’s NHRA eliminations from Gainesville (Fla.) delivered a 0.29 rating and 420,000 viewers on FS1, flat in ratings and down 4% in viewership from last year (0.29, 439K) and down 17% and 18% respectively from 2016 (0.35, 514K).

[Numbers from ESPN PR, ShowBuzz Daily 3.20]