WNBA ratings are trending up on ESPN2; NBC scored a strong early season EPL audience; several racing series posted declines last weekend.
WNBA First Round, Regular Season, Up Double-Digits
Tuesday’s opening round WNBA playoff games averaged 318,000 viewers on ESPN2, up 30% from last year (244K). Lynx-Sparks drew 343,000, up 41% from last year (Storm-Mercury: 243K), and Wings-Mercury had 293,000 (+20%).
ESPN2 averaged 231,000 for regular season coverage, up 35% from last year’s record-low (171K) and the network’s most-watched season in four years (2014: 240K).
Arsenal-Chelsea Posts Strong Early Season Audience
Saturday’s Arsenal-Chelsea English Premier League match had a 0.7 rating and 1.07 million viewers on NBC, up 31% in ratings and 38% in viewership from last year (Stoke-Arsenal: 0.5, 778K). Including streaming viewership on NBC Sports’ digital platforms, the audience of 1.14 million was the second-largest on record for an EPL match in the month of August.
In other action, Manchester United-Brighton had a 0.39 (-3%) and 576,000 (-8%) on NBCSN Sunday morning.
Downer Weekend For NASCAR, IndyCar, NHRA
The NASCAR Xfinity Series from Bristol (Tenn.) had a 0.5 rating and 826,000 viewers on NBCSN Friday night, down 29% in ratings and 24% in viewership from last year (0.7, 1.08M) and down 38% and 30% respectively from 2016 opposite the Olympics on USA Network (0.8, 1.18M).
In other racing action, IndyCar from Pocono scored a 0.34 (-15%) and 542,000 (-12%) on NBCSN Sunday. The race was delayed due to a serious accident. In the same window on FS1, live NHRA eliminations from Minnesota drew a 0.23 (-15%) and 343,000 (-17%).
Including the double-digit declines for Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series race, last weekend was a clean sweep of declines for racing.
[Numbers from ESPN, NBC Sports PR 8.22, Nielsen via ShowBuzz Daily 8.21, 8.22; Programming Insider 8.20]
