Recent sports TV ratings, including a slight bump for Red Sox-Yankees on ESPN; a multi-year low for the NCAA men’s hockey final; a bump for UFC 236 prelims; and a increases for the NHRA and IndyCar.
Slight bump for season’s first Red Sox-Yankees game on ESPN
Wednesday’s Red Sox-Yankees Major League Baseball game earned a 0.5 rating and 784,000 viewers on ESPN, flat in ratings and up 2% in viewership from Indians-Twins in Puerto Rico last year (0.5, 766K). Compared to last year’s first Yankees-Red Sox game on ESPN, which did not face competition from the NBA or NHL playoffs, ratings fell a tick and viewership 15% from a 0.6 and 922,000.
In other MLB action, Mets-Braves drew a 0.8 and 1.23 million on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball last weekend — down a tick in ratings and 10% in viewership from last year (Rangers-Astros: 0.9, 1.37M) and down 27% and 30% respectively from 2017 (Cardinals-Yankees: 1.1, 1.78M). All three Sunday night games this season have declined.
ESPN also drew a 0.4 and 696,000 for Cardinals-Reds from Mexico earlier Sunday; a 0.5 and 656,000 (-1%) for Mets-Phillies on Monday; and 565,000 viewers for abbreviated coverage of Reds-Dodgers late Monday night. FS1 last Saturday scored just 287,000 for Mets-Braves (-44%) and 211,000 for Rockies-Giants (-50%).
NCAA hockey final hits low
Last Saturday’s Minnesota (Duluth)-UMass NCAA men’s hockey national championship earned a 0.21 rating and 321,000 viewers on ESPN2, down 40% in ratings and 51% in viewership from last year (Minnesota Duluth-Notre Dame: 0.35, 653K) and down 16% and 31% respectively from 2017 (Minnesota Duluth-Denver: 0.25, 467K). Those games aired on ESPN.
According to Sports Business Daily, this year’s game was the least-watched men’s hockey final in at least a decade.
UFC 236 prelim viewership up slightly on ESPN
Last Saturday’s UFC 236 prelims earned a 0.6 and 893,000 viewers on ESPN, up 15% in ratings and just 0.1% in viewership from last year’s UFC 223 prelims on FS1 (0.5, 892K). That event took place one week earlier on the calendar. Versus the event on the comparable weekend last year, UFC on FOX 29, ratings fell 52% (from 1.25) and viewership 56% (from 2.02M).
Move from FS1 to FOX boosts NHRA at Houston
NHRA eliminations from Houston delivered a 0.6 rating and 902,000 viewers on the FOX broadcast network last Sunday, up 94% in ratings and 91% in viewership from last year (0.31, 472K) and up 88% and 84% respectively from 2017 (0.32, 490K), both of which aired on FS1. It was the most-watched NHRA telecast of the season, no surprise given it was also the first telecast to air on broadcast.
Also Sunday, the IndyCar Series at Long Beach had a 0.28 (+17%) and 436,000 (+18%) on NBCSN, and the F1 Chinese Grand Prix drew 260,000 viewers on ESPN2 (-10%). Two nights earlier, NASCAR Xfinity Series racing at Richmond had a 0.36 (-20%) and 543,000 (-24%), marking the series’ smallest audience in at least five years.
[Numbers from Nielsen via ShowBuzz Daily 4.16, Sports Business Daily 4.17]
