A World Series rematch tied a season-high overnight rating on ESPN. Also: overnights for the Wimbledon men’s final were the highest in seven years; NASCAR’s Cup Series tied a season-low.
World Series rematch ties season-high overnight on ESPN
Dodgers-Red Sox averaged a 1.7 overnight rating on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball over the weekend, tying the network’s highest MLB overnight of the season. The World Series rematch tied a 10 AM ET Yankees-Red Sox game from London earlier this month. There was no game on the comparable window last year, which coincided with the start of the All-Star break.
The telecast had a 6.0 rating in Los Angeles, trailing only last year’s Rockies-Dodgers tiebreaker (6.9) as the market’s highest rated MLB game on ESPN since 1997. The previous high was a 5.7 for an Angels-Dodgers game last year (5.7).
Regional action featuring the same matchup had a 1.8 overnight on FOX; overnights for last year’s comparable window were not available.
In other action, Thursday’s Astros-Rangers game averaged 1.20 million viewers on ESPN, down 29% from Cardinals-Cubs on the first night after the All-Star break last year (1.70M). The game was the only game of the day and aired exclusively on ESPN.
Strong overnight for lengthy Wimbledon men’s final
Sunday’s Novak Djokovic-Roger Federer Wimbledon men’s final earned a 3.0 overnight rating on ESPN, up 114% from last year (1.4), and the highest for any Wimbledon final since the Andy Murray-Federer final in 2012 (3.1).
The 3.0 is the highest for a tennis match on any network since the Serena Williams-Venus Williams US Open quarterfinal in 2015 (4.8). It also topped all other sportscasts over the weekend.
Coverage of the men’s semifinals, including Federer-Rafael Nadal, had 1.39 million viewers Friday — up 27% from last year (987K), up 41% from 2017 (976K), and the tournament’s largest audience outside of the finals in at least five years. Coverage of the women’s semifinals had 715,000 on Thursday (+6%).
NASCAR ties season-low overnight at Kentucky
NASCAR Cup Series racing from Kentucky had a 1.2 overnight rating on NBCSN Saturday night, down 14% from last year (1.4) and tied as the lowest of the season. Kansas had the same 1.2 overnight on FS1 in May.
Meanwhile, Sunday’s IndyCar Series race from Toronto had a 0.36 overnight, up a hundredth from last year (0.35).
[Numbers from ESPN PR/Twitter 7.15, ESPN PR 7.15, NBC Sports]
