With no other major soccer leagues in operation, the German Bundesliga returned with much stronger numbers than usual on FS1. Plus: a soft return for the PBR Tour and figures for last weekend’s encores.
Wunderbar return for Bundesliga
Saturday’s Dortmund-Schalke Bundesliga match averaged a 0.24 rating and 365,000 viewers on FS1, marking the largest Bundesliga audience ever on the network. The following day’s Union Berlin-Bayern Munich was a close second, averaging a 0.19 and 361,000.
The Bundesliga also earned a near-record audience on Spanish television, with Union Berlin-Bayern Munich averaging 222,000 on UniMas and TUDN — the second-largest Spanish-language Bundesliga audience on record, and 28th regardless of language. The combined English and Spanish-language audience was approximately 583,000.
PBR return to CBS down from same weekend last year
Live coverage of the Professional Bull Riders Tour averaged a 0.46 rating and 718,000 viewers on CBS Sunday, down 22% in ratings and 17% in viewership from an event on the same weekend last year (0.59, 866K). While last year’s telecast led into the live final round of the PGA Championship, this year’s led into a re-air of the 2000 tournament.
Ratings and viewership also trailed the previous PBR event on CBS, which averaged a 0.66 and 981,000 on March 1.
“Greatest Plays” tops million mark; Bryant’s final game leads encores
NBC averaged a 0.7 rating and 1.04 million viewers for an NFL 100 “Greatest Plays” special on Sunday, the only non-live sportscast to exceed a million viewers over the weekend.
As for the usual round of sports encores, a re-air of the late Kobe Bryant’s final NBA game — Jazz-Lakers in 2016 — led all rebroadcasts with a 0.56 rating and 804,000 viewers on ABC Saturday night. Bryant’s final game previously averaged 260,000 viewers on ESPN in April, coinciding with his posthumous selection to the Basketball Hall of Fame, and 1.1 million on ESPN the night after his death in January.
The final round of the 2000 PGA Championship, won by Tiger Woods, averaged a 0.48 and 681,000 on CBS Sunday. It was a far cry from the 1.4 and 2.16 million CBS averaged for a re-air of Woods’ 2019 Masters win last month, but that did not have to compete with live golf.
Finally, a re-air of the 2015 Preakness Stakes — featuring the announcement of a new date for this year’s Preakness — averaged a 0.44 and 644,000 on NBC Saturday; ABC pulled a 0.36 and 511,000 for Game 6 of last year’s NBA Finals (Raptors-Warriors) on Sunday; FOX drew a 0.29 and 424,000 for the 1995 NFC Championship Game on Saturday (Cowboys-49ers).
[Nielsen estimates from Fox Sports, Univision, ShowBuzz Daily 5.19]
