Yankees-Dodgers ratings tied a season-high on ESPN; College Gameday went low in its “week zero” debut; the Premier League crossed the million viewer threshold again; the BIG3 playoffs sank on CBS.
Yankees-Dodgers ties season-high rating on ESPN
Yankees-Dodgers averaged a 1.5 rating and 2.39 million viewers on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball over the weekend, up 67% in ratings and 69% in viewership from last year (Yankees-Orioles: 0.9, 1.42M), and up 150% and 161% respectively from 2017 (Mets-Nationals: 0.6, 914K).
The Yankees’ win tied the highest MLB rating of the season on cable, matching a Yankees-Red Sox game on ESPN last month. It trails only that game (2.40M) as the most-watched. New York has now played in the top four games on cable this season and five of the top six.
The same matchup averaged a 0.46 and 728,000 on FS1 Saturday afternoon, marking that network’s most-watched game of the season.
In other action, TBS averaged a 0.31 rating (+15%) and 435,000 viewers (+9%) for Nationals-Cubs on Sunday. Meanwhile, ESPN drew 671,000 viewers for Cardinals-Brewers (-13%) and 554,000 for Yankees-Mariners (+27%) on Monday night, and FS1 chipped in 245,000 for its Rockies-Cardinals nightcap on Saturday (-42%).
College Gameday low in “week zero” debut
The season premiere of ESPN’s “College Gameday” averaged 1.05 million viewers last Saturday, marking the show’s second-smallest audience since 2016. Last year’s season finale was slightly lower at 985,000. Viewership sank 44% from last year’s opener (1.87M) and 48% from the 2017 opener (2.05M), with the caveat that those telecasts took place in week one rather than “week zero.”
In other action, the Youngstown State-Samford FCS Kickoff averaged a 0.47 rating and 718,000 viewers — up 34% in ratings and 27% in viewership from last year, when coverage aired in primetime (North Carolina A&T-Jacksonville State: 0.35, 564K).
EPL tops million mark on NBC for second-straight week
Last Saturday’s Arsenal-Liverpool English Premier League match averaged a 0.7 rating and 1.01 million viewers on NBC, up a tick in ratings and 21% in viewership from last year (Liverpool-Brighton & Hove: 0.6, 831K), but flat and down 5% respectively from 2017 (Manchester United-Leicester City: 0.7, 1.07M).
The following day, Newcastle-Tottenham scored a 0.36 (+3%) and 585,000 (+9%) on NBCSN.
BIG3 playoffs down on CBS
Coverage of the BIG3 playoffs averaged a 0.40 rating and 550,000 viewers on CBS last Sunday, down a tick in ratings and 28% in viewership from last year, when coverage aired on a Friday night on FOX (0.5, 760K).
