The F1 season continues to be a ratings hit; NASCAR held up well despite a lengthy delay; Red Sox-Yankees was a mixed bag; plus numbers for the Gold Cup, WNBA and more.
F1 ratings surge continues in British GP
Sunday’s Formula 1 British Grand Prix averaged a 0.6 rating and 1.03 million viewers on ESPN, marking the third-largest F1 audience ever on cable and second-largest of the season. The French Grand Prix averaged 1.06 million.
Lewis Hamilton’s win, which peaked with 1.2 million viewers from 11:45 AM-Noon ET, increased 40% from last year (736K) and ranks as the fourth-most watched British Grand Prix on record.
The Formula 1 season is now averaging 944,000 viewers on the ESPN family of networks, up 43% from the first ten races of last year’s months-delayed, shortened season (660K) and up 39% from the ten-race average in 2019 (678K). This season is also up 55% from last year’s full-season average (608K) and up 40% from the full 2019 season (672K).
Beyond the race itself, the new Sprint Qualifying event on Saturday averaged 529,000 viewers.
NASCAR New Hampshire ratings on par with last year despite delay
The rain-delayed NASCAR Cup Series race from New Hampshire averaged a 1.3 rating and 2.11 million viewers on NBCSN, down a tick in ratings and 5% in viewership from last year’s August race (1.4, 2.21M) and down 24% in both measures from 2019 (1.7, 2.79M). Excluding the portion of the race that aired prior to an early — and lengthy — red flag, ratings were flat and viewership increased 1% over last year (to 2.30M).
The corresponding Xfinity Series race averaged a 0.7 and 1.08 million on NBCSN Saturday. There was no comparable race last year.
Mixed results for Red Sox-Yankees on national TV
Including an ESPN2 “Statcast” simulcast, Red Sox-Yankees averaged 1.94 million viewers on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball over the weekend — down 4% from a Dodgers-Red Sox World Series rematch in 2019 (2.03M). Regional action on FOX featuring the same matchup averaged 2.30 million the previous night, up 3% from ’19 (2.23M) despite rare NBA Finals competition.
In other action, FS1 averaged 337,000 for Indians-A’s Saturday and TBS 252,000 for Padres-Nationals on Sunday (-22%).
Elsewhere in MLB, last week’s Home Run Derby averaged a 2.3 rating in adults 18-49, topping the following night’s MLB All-Star Game by 28% (1.8). The Derby has beaten the All-Star Game in 18-49 three of the past four times the events have taken place.
Plus: Gold Cup, WNBA, SRX
Mexico matches in the Concacaf Gold Cup are averaging 2.92 million viewers on the Univision family of networks, topped by 3.79 million for El Tri’s match against El Salvador on Sunday — the largest Gold Cup group play audience on a single network since 2011. The same match had just 323,000 on FS1. United States-Canada earlier Sunday averaged 1.39 million on FOX, up 15% from the network’s previous USMNT Gold Cup match in 2017 (1.21M). … The July 11 Aces-Wings WNBA game averaged 643,000 viewers on ABC, marking the league’s largest regular season audience since 2012. Entering the Olympic break, viewership for games on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC was up 44% from the first sixteen windows last year. … Despite facing the NBA Finals, the season finale of the SRX racing series averaged 1.27 million viewers on CBS, a three-week high.
[Nielsen estimates from ESPN, NASCAR, Univision, ESPN PR/Twitter 7.14, Spoiler TV 7.20 a, b, c, d]
