Overnight ratings slipped for the penultimate match of the Women’s World Cup; Zion Williamson‘s abbreviated debut set a Summer League record; ESPN’s 30 For 30 on the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest beat the previous two premieres.
Overnights slip for WWC third-place match
Saturday’s England-Sweden FIFA Women’s World Cup third-place match earned a 1.6 overnight rating on FOX, down a tick from Germany-Sweden in a later timeslot four years ago (1.7), but up 129% from Sweden-France on ESPN2 in 2011 (0.7).
Austin, Tex., led all markets with a 3.8 rating. Despite an 7:45 AM local time start, San Diego ranked second at a 2.6. Ft. Myers, Fla. (2.5), Tulsa (2.5) and the Bay Area (2.4) rounded out the top five.
Entering Sunday’s final, the Women’s World Cup was averaging a 1.1 rating in the metered markets — up a tick from 2015 (1.0) and up 53% from 2011 on ESPN/ESPN2 (0.7).
Zion’s abbreviated debut sets Summer League mark
Friday’s Pelicans-Knicks NBA Summer League game earned a 1.2 overnight rating on ESPN, up 200% from Mavericks-Suns in the same window last year (0.4) and the highest Summer League overnight on record. The game marked the NBA debut of #1 overall pick Zion Williamson, who played only the first half before being held out of the remainder of play due to injury. The game itself was called in the fourth quarter due to an earthquake.
Hot dog 30 For 30 up from previous premieres, but still low
The premiere of the ESPN 30 For 30 documentary “The Good, the Bad, and the Hungry” had 450,000 viewers Tuesday night, up 25% from “Qualified” in May (360K), and up 30% from “The Dominican Dream” in April (347K), the two previous 30 For 30 premieres.
It was the third-straight 30 For 30 premiere with fewer than 500,000 viewers, likely the longest such stretch in the history of the series (dates back to 2009).
[Numbers from Fox Sports, ESPN PR 7.6, Nielsen via ShowBuzz Daily 7.3]
