The much-hyped “Roval” helped NASCAR ratings to a rare increase in the metered markets. In other news, Miami-UNC ratings sank 40 percent on ESPN last Thursday and ESPN scored a big increase (with a caveat) for Yankees-Red Sox on Friday night.
“Roval” Lifts NASCAR Overnights at Charlotte
The NASCAR Cup Series playoffs from Charlotte earned a 2.0 overnight rating on NBC Sunday afternoon, up 11% from last year (1.8) and the highest for the race since 2014 on ESPN (2.9). It was the first Cup Series race all season to post an increase without the assistance of a schedule change.
Sunday marked the debut of the much-hyped Charlotte “Roval” — a road course configuration of Charlotte Motor Speedway’s oval track.
Miami-UNC Down Big Thursday Night
Last Thursday’s Miami-North Carolina college football game earned a 0.6 rating and 1.01 million viewers on ESPN, down 40% in ratings and 39% in viewership from last year (Texas-Iowa State: 1.0, 1.65M) and down a third and 29% respectively from 2016 (UConn-Houston: 0.9, 1.42M). While the competing Thursday Night Football game was virtually flat compared to last year, cable news competition was substantially stronger than a year ago.
Big Jump, With Caveat, For Friday’s Yanks-Sox on ESPN
Friday’s Yankees-Red Sox Major League Baseball game scored 913,000 viewers on ESPN, up 56% from Blue Jays-Red Sox in 2016, which aired on ESPN2 (584K). ESPN did not carry a game on the final Friday of last season. Earlier in the day, Cardinals-Cubs had 600,000.
In other action last week, ESPN drew a 0.42 rating and 606,000 viewers for Yankees-Rays last Tuesday — down 21% in ratings and 23% in viewership from last year (Cubs-Cardinals: 0.53, 792K). The Dodgers-Diamondbacks nightcap, which was joined in progress, had a 0.45 and 664,000.
On Wednesday, Brewers-Cardinals drew a 0.40 (-25%) and 587,000 (-28%) and Dodgers-D’Backs a 0.32 (-9%) and 430,000 (-24%).
[Numbers from NBC Sports PR/Twitter 10.1, Programming Insider 9.26, 9.27, 9.28, ShowBuzz Daily 10.1]
