Ratings: Wimbledon, baseball, racing and more

Serena Williams’ first round Wimbledon loss to Harmony Tan — her first Grand Slam match since suffering an injury in the same round of the same tournament last year — averaged 842,000 viewers over three-plus hours Tuesday afternoon. Viewership peaked at 1.2 million in the final minutes. The full Tuesday telecast averaged 528,000, ranking as the most-watched day two of Wimbledon in five years and the most-watched of the tournament thus far (through Thursday).

The men’s College World Series averaged 1.11 million viewers on ESPN, up 13% from last year, when coverage had to compete with the late-running NBA Playoffs, and up 1% from 2019. Keep in mind that out-of-home viewing was not included in the 2019 or prior year figures.

The two-game Mississippi-Oklahoma final averaged 1.63 million last weekend, per ESPN — up 12% from last year but down 17% from 2019. Viewership also declined from the previous two-game sweep in 2017 (Florida-LSU: 1.89M). Per ESPN, both Game 1 last Saturday night and Game 2 last Sunday afternoon averaged 1.63 million. That differs from the numbers released by ShowBuzz Daily, which showed Game 1 at 1.63 million and Game 2 at 1.54 million for an average of 1.59 million.

One week after a CWS game on ESPN2 outdrew ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball head-to-head, Mississippi’s title-clinching Game 2 win averaged fewer viewers than SNB lead-out (Dodgers-Braves: 1.90M). The audience for Dodgers-Braves, which includes 173,000 viewers for the “KayRod” simulcast on ESPN2, increased 41% from last year’s equivalent Sunday night game.

In other baseball action, regional coverage on FOX last weekend drew a 1.1 rating and 1.95 million viewers (down from a 1.4 and north of 2.4 million last year), FS1 drew just a 0.16 and 275,000 for Royals-Rangers last Saturday, and TBS chipped in 226,000 for Astros-Mets on Tuesday.

Rain-affected coverage of the NASCAR Cup Series race at Nashville averaged a 1.8 rating and 2.92 million viewers on NBC, up 23% in ratings and 11% in viewership from last year, when the race was run as scheduled but on NBCSN. NBC coverage peaked at 3.3 million viewers in the final minutes before the race was red-flagged. The conclusion of the race averaged a 0.48 and 793,000 on USA Network, slightly below the previous day’s Xfinity Series race on the same channel (0.50, 796K).

In other racing action, the season’s second edition of the SRX on CBS averaged a 0.58 and 982,000 last Saturday night — up from the previous week (0.58, 951K), but the second-smallest audience in the series’ young history (eight total telecasts).

Last Saturday’s New Orleans-Birmingham USFL playoff game averaged a 0.65 rating and 998,000 viewers in primetime on NBC, preceded by Philadelphia-New Jersey at a 0.6 and 957,000 on FOX earlier in the day — the most-watched USFL telecasts since Michigan-Birmingham following the Preakness in May (1.20M). The USFL regular season averaged 715,000 viewers, per Sports Business Journal. … Coverage of the PGA Tour Hartford tournament averaged a 1.55 rating and 2.59 million viewers on CBS last Sunday and a 1.2 and 1.95 million last Saturday, both the lowest in three years. The final round of the Women’s PGA Championship averaged a 0.7 and 1.05 million on NBC last Sunday, up 13% from last year and a 17-year high, with third round action at a 0.49 and 723,000. … The U.S. Track and Field Championships averaged 1.05 million viewers on NBC last Saturday and Sunday, down from the previous non-Olympic year in 2019 (1.06 and 1.47 million respectively). … ESPN averaged 612,000 total day viewers in the second quarter, up 4% from last year (589K), with primetime viewership up 22% to 1.64 million, its highest in the quarter since 2014. Keep in mind ESPN had both the NBA and Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time since 2004.