Sports TV ratings roundup — Formula 1 viewership continues to surge, MLB took a hit from the Olympics, and Combate Global outdrew the UFC.
F1 viewership continues to soar over last year, 2019
Formula 1 racing is averaging 946,000 viewers through 11 races this season, up 47% from the first 11 races of last year’s delayed, shortened season (645K) and up 39% from the same number of races in 2019 (681K). Viewership is up 56% over last year’s full-season average (608K) and up 41% over the full 2019 season (672K).
Last weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix averaged 964,000 viewers, a record for any F1 race from Hungary, and the seventh-largest F1 audience ever on cable. Esteban Ocon’s win, which peaked with 1.1 million from 10:45-11 AM ET, jumped 37% from last year (703K).
Olympics sinking MLB ratings
Facing the Summer Olympics, Red Sox-Rays averaged 978,000 viewers on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball last weekend — down 49% from last year (1.91M) and 59% from 2019 (2.40M), both of which pit the Yankees against the Red Sox. Keep in mind the comparable weekend last year was the second of the delayed, abbreviated season.
Earlier in the day, TBS drew 214,000 for Indians-White Sox — down 34% from last year (Mets-Braves: 324K) and down 47% from 2019 (Dodgers-Nationals: 400K).
The Olympic competition also sank the previous day’s FOX doubleheader of A’s-Angels (210K) and Twins-Cardinals (281K), which fell 67 and 36 percent respectively from 2019 (Yankees-Red Sox: 643K; Astros-Cardinals: 442K). There were no comparable windows last year.
Going back to the previous week, ESPN drew 478,000 for Yankees-Rays on July 28 (-39%) and 456,000 for Blue Jays-Red Sox on July 26 (also -39%).
Combate Global outdraws UFC on same weekend
Airing immediately following the Gold Cup final, last Sunday’s Combate Global mixed martial arts card averaged 946,000 viewers on Univision — topping the previous night’s UFC on ESPN main event (797K). Per Univision, last week marked the first time that any competing MMA organization has outdrawn the UFC on ESPN on the same weekend.
Viewership increased 77% over the previous Combate Global event in May (533K).
As for the UFC, the audience of 797,000 marked the series’ least-watched main event since an ESPN2 card back in June (275K), and its least-watched on ESPN since May (741K). The previous week’s main event had 868,000. The UFC faced the Olympics in both weeks.
