Recent sports TV ratings, including Week 4 NFL ratings on FOX, Major League Baseball’s tiebreaker games, and LeBron James‘ Lakers debut.
NFL Singleheader Hits High Despite Dip
The Week 4 NFL singleheader window, featuring Cowboys-Lions in a third of markets and Browns-Raiders in 26%, had a 10.3 rating and 18.0 million viewers on FOX — down 10% in ratings and viewership from last year, when coverage featured Rams-Cowboys or Panthers-Patriots (11.5, 20.1M), but up 10% and 9% respectively from 2016 on CBS (9.4, 16.4M).
Despite the decline, the telecast ranks as the highest rated and most-watched singleheader of the young season. The window has exceeded 17 million viewers three times in four weeks this season, already exceeding last year’s full-season total of two.
The full list of Week 4 NFL ratings is available here.
Tiebreaker Games Big For Monday Afternoon
ESPN scored 2.69 million viewers for Rockies-Dodgers and 2.53 million for Brewers-Cubs in a doubleheader of Major League Baseball tiebreaker games Monday afternoon. Neither game could match the previous MLB tiebreaker, Rays-Rangers on TBS in primetime five years ago (2.94M).
Monday’s games rank fifth and sixth among all regular season telecasts this year, no small feat given the weekday afternoon timeslots. Brewers-Cubs had a 13.5 rating in Milwaukee and an 8.3 in Chicago; Rockies-Dodgers had a 9.0 in Denver and a 6.9 in Los Angeles. ESPN scored its highest MLB regular season rating on record in Milwaukee, Denver and LA.
In other action, FOX scored a 1.4 rating and 2.04 million viewers for regional coverage on Saturday featuring Cubs-Cardinals or Yankees-Red Sox — up 17% in ratings and 14% in viewership from last year (mostly Red Sox-Astros: 1.2, 1.79M) and up 56% and 54% respectively from 2016 (0.90, 1.33M).
FS1 scored a 0.37 and 613,000 (+89%) for Tigers-Brewers later in the night, and TBS brought up the rear with just 255,000 for Yankees-Red Sox on Sunday (+122%).
LeBron’s Preseason Debut Big
Sunday’s Nuggets-Lakers NBA preseason game, which marked the Lakers debut of LeBron James, earned a 0.7 rating and 1.17 million viewers on ESPN — the network’s third-largest preseason audience since 2009. A Bulls-Cavaliers game last year (1.35M) and Clippers-Warriors game in 2016 (1.20M) hold the top two spots.
Keep in mind the game aired directly opposite NFL Sunday Night Football. Versus ESPN’s lone Sunday night preseason game last year, which pit the Lakers against the Kings, ratings increased 167% (from 0.27) and viewership 174% (from 428K).
