The UEFA Champions League final hit a viewership high in its return to English-language broadcast television. Plus: a strong start for Islanders-Bruins, a new high for the PGA Tour at Colonial, and still another high for the Liga MX final.
UCL final hits high in CBS debut
The Chelsea-Manchester City UEFA Champions League final averaged 3.65 million viewers across CBS, Paramount+ and Univision Saturday afternoon, up 24% from 2019, the last time the event aired on a Nielsen rated English-language network. That year, Liverpool-Tottenham averaged 2.95 million on TNT and Univision.
CBS averaged 2.10 million for its coverage, up 39% from 2019 on TNT (1.51M) and the largest English-language audience for the UCL final since Barcelona-Juventus on FOX in 2015 (2.20M). Exact figures for Paramount+ were not available, but the match ranks as the most-watched non-NFL sporting event ever on the streaming service (previously CBS All-Access).
Univision averaged 1.55 million, down from last year (2.05M) — when competing English-language coverage was limited to CBSSN and CBS All-Access — but up 8% from 2019 (2.95M).
Viewership peaked at 2.55 million on CBS and 1.81 million on Univision from 4:45-5 PM ET.
Good start for Isles-B’s on NBC, NBCSN
Saturday’s Islanders-Bruins NHL Stanley Cup semifinal Game 1 averaged 2.08 million viewers on NBC (including additional streaming viewership not tracked by Nielsen), trailing only Bruins-Capitals Game 1 in the first round as the most-watched game of the postseason. Viewership surged over last year’s comparable Stars-Avalanche Game 1 in the “bubble” (1.29M).
Game 2 of the series on Tuesday night averaged 1.55 million on NBCSN, the largest audience of the playoffs on cable and well above last year’s comparable Bruins-Lightning Game 2 (1.20M).
On Sunday, Golden Knights-Avalanche Game 1 averaged 1.60 million — down from Bruins-Lightning in a similar window last year (1.79M).
PGA Tour sets new high at Colonial
Final round of the PGA Tour at Colonial averaged 3.11 million viewers on CBS last Sunday, marking the largest audience for the tournament since 2004. Viewership increased 1% from the previous high of 3.09 million set last year, when the Colonial marked the return of the PGA Tour from a three-month hiatus.
Keep in mind last year’s final round faced little sporting competition, while this year’s telecast aired opposite the most-watched Indy 500 in five years and a Laker playoff game.
Liga MX Clausura final scores multi-year high
Last Sunday’s second leg of the Cruz Azul-Santos Liga MX Clausura final averaged 3.0 million viewers on Univision, the largest audience for any soccer match since the 2019 Gold Cup and the most-watched club soccer match on any network since the 2013 Liga MX Apertura Final. There was no Clausura final last year.
[Nielsen estimates from CBS Sports, Univision, NBC Sports]
