After a seven-year high for Game 1, ratings dipped for Game 2 of the College World Series final. Also: a new season-high for Major League Baseball and a big jump for IndyCar.
CWS Game 2 down, but among top games in five years
Vanderbilt-Michigan scored a 1.2 rating and 1.96 million viewers in Tuesday’s Game 2 of the College World Series final, down 14% in ratings and 9% in viewership from Oregon State-Arkansas last year (1.4, 2.16M) and flat and down 2% respectively from Florida-LSU in 2017 (1.2, 2.01M).
Though the least-watched Game 2 in three years, the Commodores’ win delivered the third-largest CWS audience since 2014 (Vanderbilt-Virginia Game 3: 2.39M). It outperformed Monday’s Game 1 (1.88M), which was the most-watched opener since 2012.
New season-high for MLB
Regional Major League Baseball action featuring Astros-Yankees in 66% of markets had a 1.8 rating and 2.91 million viewers on FOX Saturday night, up 29% in ratings and 31% in viewership from last year (mostly Mariners-Red Sox: 1.4, 2.22M) and up 50% and 52% respectively from 2017 (mostly Angels-Red Sox: 1.2, 1.92M).
The telecast ranks as the highest rated and most-watched of the MLB season, topping the previous highs of 1.6 and 2.56 million. The top five telecasts have aired on FOX.
Earlier in the day, FS1 drew a 0.28 (-43%) and 436,000 (-41%).
Over on ESPN, Angels-Cardinals scored a 0.8 (flat) and 1.28 million (+11%) on Sunday Night Baseball — marking the sixth of the past nine Sunday night games to increase. ESPN also drew a 0.43 and 673,000 (+20%) for Rockies-Giants on Tuesday and a 0.37 (-20%) and 532,000 (-23%) for the same matchup on Monday.
NBC IndyCar viewership up double-digits through five races
IndyCar racing from Road America (Wisc.) drew a 0.8 rating and 1.10 million viewers on the NBC broadcast network Sunday afternoon, up 250% in ratings and 243% in viewership from last year on NBCSN (0.22, 322K), and the largest audience for any non-Indy 500 race since last year’s opener at St. Petersburg (1.14M). Including streaming, the telecast had 1.11 million.
The first five IndyCar races on the NBC broadcast network have averaged 2.32 million viewers (including streaming), up 19% from last year’s five-race schedule on ABC (1.96M). Including races on NBCSN, the IndyCar season has averaged 1.40 million viewers (+8%).
In other racing action, Sunday’s Formula 1 French Grand Prix drew a 0.34 and 483,000 — flat in ratings and down 10% from last year, despite moving up from ESPN2 to ESPN. It was just the second F1 race this season to decline.
[Numbers from Nielsen via Programming Insider 6.25, 6.26; ShowBuzz Daily 6.25]
