NASCAR posted a slight dip for its final outing at Fontana. Plus: ESPN scored one of the top ten audiences of college basketball season; plus soccer and the NHL.
NASCAR’s Fontana farewell sees dip
Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Auto Club 400 from Fontana (Ca.) — the final race at the venue for the foreseeable future — averaged a 2.5 rating and 4.32 million viewers on FOX, down a tick in ratings and 6% in viewership from last year (2.6, 4.57M). All three NASCAR windows on FOX this season (Fontana, the Daytona 500 and “The Clash”) have declined. Keep in mind viewing levels Sunday were 12% lower than last year.
Despite the drop, NASCAR was the highest rated and most-watched sporting event of the weekend — topping the competing Lakers-Mavericks game on ABC head-to-head (2.0, 3.50M). It ranked third in adults 18-49 (803K) behind Lakers-Mavericks (1.26M) and a second NBA game, Celtics-Sixers on Saturday (839K).
UVA-UNC among top games of season
Saturday’s Virginia-North Carolina men’s college basketball game averaged a 1.0 rating and 1.87 million viewers on ESPN, marking the ninth-largest audience of the season and only the second ACC game in the top ten. Ratings increased 37% and viewership 35% from Duke-Syracuse in the same window last year (0.7, 1.39M). ESPN is now averaging 949,000 for college basketball games this season, up 7% from last year.
In other weekend action, CBS drew a 1.0 and 1.74 million for Auburn-Kentucky Saturday afternoon — up 59% and 58% respectively from UCLA-Oregon State a year ago (0.6, 1.10M) — and FOX pulled a 0.9 and 1.73 million for Indiana-Purdue Saturday night.
Shifting to women’s action, Sunday’s Indiana-Iowa game on ESPN — won by Iowa on a game winner by Caitlin Clark — averaged a 0.36 and 622,000, more-than-double a Wichita State-Memphis men’s game in the same window last year (0.14, 231K).
UCL hits round of 16 high on CBS; MLS starts slowly on FOX
Last week’s UEFA Champions League round of 16 matches on CBS — Liverpool-Real Madrid last Tuesday and RB Leipzig-Manchester City last Wednesday — averaged 946,000 and 892,000 viewers, the two largest audiences ever for a round of 16 match on English-language television. The matches delivered the two largest soccer audiences of the week on English-language TV and ranked third and fourth overall, behind a pair of Liga MX matches on Univision.
In other soccer action, FOX averaged a 0.21 and 390,000 for its Nashville-NYC FC Major League Soccer opener — down from Portland-New England in a primetime window last year (0.25, 436K).
Slight viewer dip for ABC’s Pens-Blues
ABC averaged a 0.6 rating and 1.02 million viewers for Saturday’s Penguins-Blues NHL regular season game, flat in ratings and down 3% in viewership from Rangers-Penguins in the same window last year (0.6, 1.05M). Despite the dip, the game ranks as the just the fourth of the season to cross the million viewer threshold. Three of the four have been ABC games this month, with the fourth being the Winter Classic.
Earlier in the day, ABC drew a 0.50 and 896,000 for Rangers-Capitals. There was no comparable window last year.
(Nielsen estimates from ShowBuzz Daily 2.28)
