IndyCar scored its largest audience at St. Petersburg in five years. Plus: a double-digit bump for the NCAA women’s volleyball final and more, including some sports comparisons for last weekend’s Oscars.
IndyCar hits five-year high at St. Pete
Last Sunday’s IndyCar Series race from St. Petersburg averaged a 0.8 rating and 1.22 million viewers on NBC, the largest audience for the race since 2016 (1.39M) and up 88% and 82% respectively from last year, when it ran in October as the season finale (0.41, 671K).
Excluding the Indy 500 and ancillary events, the race trailed only last year’s primetime season opener at Texas (1.28M) as the most-watched IndyCar race of any kind since 2016. Including additional streaming viewership not tracked by Nielsen, it averaged 1.23 million.
NCAA women’s volleyball final rebounds from ’19 low
Last Saturday’s Kentucky-Texas NCAA women’s volleyball national championship averaged a 0.42 rating and 696,000 viewers on ESPN2, up 62% in ratings and 31% in viewership from the previous edition in December 2019 (Stanford-Wisconsin: 0.26, 533K). The women’s volleyball season, which typically takes place during the winter, was moved to the spring this year.
Keep in mind the 2019 figures were unusually low. Compared to the Stanford-Nebraska title game two seasons ago, ratings fell 18% (from 0.51) and viewership 26% (from 938K). The national championship exceeded the million viewer mark as recently as 2017 (Nebraska-Florida: 1.01M).
Plus: Oscars, fights, NHL
Last Sunday’s record-low Academy Awards averaged fewer viewers (10.40M) than Game 6 of last year’s record-low World Series (12.70M) and lower ratings in adults 18-49 (2.1) and 18-34 (1.6) than all six games of last year’s record-low NBA Finals. It even had lower ratings in those demos than last month’s record-low NBA All-Star Game on Turner (2.4 and 1.9 respectively). … UFC 261 prelims averaged a 0.49 and 951,000 on ESPN last Saturday, up 14% and 32% respectively from UFC 260 prelims last month (0.43, 718K). The Top Rank Boxing lead-out had a 0.45 and 733,000, the largest audience for that series since December. … NBC averaged a 0.41 and 659,000 for last Saturday’s Avalanche-Blues NHL game, its smallest audience of the season. Bruins-Penguins drew a healthier 0.6 and 1.02 million the following day. On NBCSN, last Wednesday’s Predators-Blackhawks game had a 0.20 and 340,000, followed by a 0.15 and 229,000 for Sharks-Golden Knights. Blue Jackets-Lightning drew a 0.15 and 274,000 on Sunday. Shifting to this week, Hurricanes-Stars drew 228,000 viewers on Monday and Islanders-Capitals 148,000 on Tuesday.
[Nielsen estimates from ShowBuzz Daily 4.27]
