The Formula 1 season opened with a record audience for the Austrian Grand Prix. Plus: a new low for the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest; solid numbers for ESPN’s Eagles concert; and more.
Strong start to delayed F1 season
Sunday’s Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix, the first event of the delayed season, averaged a 0.5 rating and 752,000 viewers on ESPN — marking the largest audience for the event since it returned to the schedule in 1997. The previous high was last year’s 640,000 on ESPN2.
Compared to last year’s F1 opener at Australia, which took place in March as scheduled, viewership increased 16% from 649,000.
Nathan’s Hot Dog Contest hits low
Saturday’s Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest averaged 966,000 viewers on ESPN, down 29% from last year (1.36M) and down 15% from 2018, when coverage aired on ESPN2. According to The Wrap, viewership was the lowest for the event since 2005 (860K). Despite the decline, the contest was ESPN’s most-watched program of the week.
Re-airs averaged 173,000 on ESPN2 and 161,000 on ESPNEWS later in the day.
ESPN’s Eagles concert not bad
A presentation of a 2018 Eagles concert averaged 775,000 viewers on ESPN Sunday night, the network’s most-watched Sunday night premiere in three weeks (“Long Gone Summer”: 1.06M). Viewership soared 317% from an episode of Backstory the previous week (186K) and 61% from the ESPY Awards on ESPN and ESPN2 two weeks prior (482K).
Plus: TBT, German Cup Final, Cornhole
The opening weekend of The Basketball Tournament averaged 173,000 viewers across ESPN and ESPN2, with none of the eight games exceeding 210,000 viewers (Team CP3-Primetime Players). … Saturday’s German Cup final between Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen averaged 108,000 viewers on ESPN2, up 38% from last year on ESPNEWS (79K). … ESPN averaged its largest Cornhole audience this year with 349,000 viewers for Saturday’s post-Hot Dog Contest window.
[Nielsen estimates from ShowBuzz Daily 7.7 a, b, The Wrap 7.7]
