Numbers: Players Championship Ratings; Racing

With Tiger Woods playing the event for the first time in three years, Players Championship ratings are on the rise. In other news, NASCAR’s Xfinity Series suffered another decline last weekend, while the NHRA hit a season-high.

Players Championship Ratings At Multi-Year Highs

Friday’s second round coverage of The Players Championship earned a 0.79 overnight rating on Golf Channel, up 13% from last year (0.70) and the highest since 2015, the last time before this year that Tiger Woods played the event (0.85).

Opening round coverage on Thursday had 1.0 million viewers, up 49% from last year (676K), up 41% from 2016 (717K) and the highest since 2013, the last time Woods won the tournament (1.7M). Viewership trailed only 2013 as the highest for the opening round since the tournament moved to Golf Channel in 2007.

NASCAR Xfinity Down Yet Again

NASCAR Xfinity Series racing from Dover earned a 0.5 rating and 783,000 viewers on FS1 last Saturday, down 29% in ratings and 22% in viewership from last year (0.7, 1.0M) and down 55% and 52% respectively from 2016 (1.1, 1.6M). So far this season, every single Xfinity and Cup Series race has posted a decline in ratings and/or viewership.

NASCAR Lead-In Boosts NHRA to Season-High

Airing immediately after NASCAR Cup Series coverage, taped NHRA eliminations from Atlanta earned a 0.6 rating and 956,000 viewers on FS1 last Sunday — marking the highest rated and most-watched telecast of the season.

Compared to previous years, ratings and viewership increased 146% and 153% respectively from last year (0.24, 378K) but declined 30% from 2016 (0.8, 1.4M). There was no NASCAR lead-in last year.

[Numbers from NBC Sports; ShowBuzz Daily 5.8]