Ratings roundup — MLB regular season viewership declined on ESPN and TBS; plus a season-low for F1, cable-high for the WNBA Playoffs, and more.
Yankees’ down season helps drag down MLB on ESPN, TBS
ESPN’s Major League Baseball coverage this season averaged 1.41 million viewers, down 2% from last year, with Sunday Night Baseball down 5% to 1.42 million. The subpar performance of the Yankees, Red Sox and Mets is believed to have impacted the numbers. Excluding those teams, ESPN’s average was up 2%.
Similarly, TBS saw a 2% decline for its games this season, but with the Yankees excluded was up 16% (from 280K to 325K).
Last weekend, ESPN finished its season with a 0.44 and 773,000 for Giants-Dodgers on Sunday Night Baseball, down sharply from its finale last season — Red Sox-Yankees at the height of the Aaron Judge home run chase (1.0, 1.96M). The game averaged a 0.47 and 827,000 with ESPN Deportes included.
TBS finished its slate with 365,000 viewers for Cubs-Braves and 263,000 for Astros-Mariners Tuesday night — also down sharply from last year’s Judge-fueled number (Yankees-Blue Jays: 787K).
F1 Japanese GP hits season-low
The Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix averaged a season-low 0.23 rating and 479,000 on ESPN2 overnight last Sunday, down from last year’s rain-shortened edition (0.28, 549K) and the smallest audience for the race since 2018 (295K). The previous season-low was 556,000 for another overnight race, Australia in April.
Later in the day, the NASCAR Cup Series playoff race from Texas averaged a 1.2 rating and 2.00 million viewers on USA Network — up a tick in ratings and 5% in viewership from last year (1.1, 1.91M) and the first Cup Series race to score a year-over-year increase since Richmond in July.
WNBA hits cable high for Sun-Liberty Game 2
Tuesday’s Sun-Liberty WNBA semifinal Game 2 averaged 563,000 viewers on ESPN, marking the largest audience for a playoff game on cable — excluding the WNBA Finals — since 2001. The Wings-Aces nightcap drew 522,000, ranking seventh among playoff games on cable over the same span. Viewership increased 75 and 4 percent respectively from last year on ESPN2 (Sun-Sky: 322K; Storm-Aces: 504K).
The two games also rank as the most-watched of the playoffs thus far, surpassing the previous mark of 501,000 for Mystics-Liberty Game 2 in the first round.
On the flip side, both series openers declined from last year. Sun-Liberty averaged 394,000 on ESPN and Wings-Aces just 182,000 on ESPN2, down 16 and 59 percent respectively from a year ago (Storm-Aces: 468K; Sun-Sky: 409K).
Plus: US Open Cup, PBR, PLL, Solheim Cup
— Spanish-language coverage of the Major League Soccer US Open Cup final (Houston-Inter Miami) averaged a 0.56 rating and 1.08 million viewers across Telemundo and Universo, up from last month’s Cincinnati-Inter Miami semifinal (0.55, 1.01M), despite the absence of Lionel Messi. English-language coverage aired on CBS Sports Network and Paramount+, neither of which are Nielsen rated.
— Airing adjacent to CBS NFL coverage, the Professional Bull Riders Team Series averaged a 1.0 rating and 1.93 million viewers last Sunday, trailing only NASCAR as the week’s top non-football sporting event.
— Last Sunday’s Premier Lacrosse League final averaged a 0.14 rating and 258,000 viewers on ABC, down a tick in ratings but up 15% in viewership from last year (0.15, 225K). Like last year, it was the least-watched sporting event of the weekend on the “Big Four” broadcast networks.
— Golf’s Solheim Cup averaged 165,000 viewers on Golf Channel, including 248,000 for final day coverage on Sunday. Figures for the previous international edition in 2019 were not immediately available.
For more sports ratings, see the latest weekly chart. Additional information from Programming Insider 9.28, Sports TV Ratings 9.27.
