The inaugural season of Unrivaled finished near a high note; NASCAR hit a new cable high, and suffered another big drop, for a second-straight week; F1 opened its season with a high and a decline; the PLAYERS Championship delivered a PGA Tour season-high.
For more sports ratings, see the SMW sports ratings tracker.
Unrivaled finishes inaugural season with second-largest audience
The inaugural season of the new women’s basketball league Unrivaled averaged 189,000 viewers on TNT Sports, with that average rising to 221,000 excluding truTV-exclusive windows. Monday’s Vinyl-Rose title game averaged 364,000, marking the second-largest audience for the league behind the 1×1 tournament final last month (377K). The final, which peaked with 385,000 in the first quarter-hour, outdrew the competing TGL playoff match on ESPN2 (317K) in a rare head-to-head of the first-year properties.
On Sunday, semifinal games averaged 243,000 viewers, with Laces-Rose drawing 263,000 and Vinyl-Lunar Owns 226,000.
NASCAR Cup hits cable high, but sees steep drop, for second-straight week
Last Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race from Las Vegas averaged a 1.5 rating and 3.01 million viewers on FS1, surpassing Phoenix the prior week to rank as the most-watched NASCAR race on cable since 2021, but down 42 and 31 percent respectively from last year, when the race aired on the FOX broadcast network and earlier in the season (2.4, 4.36M). The declines were less steep — 29 and 21 percent — compared to the same weekend last year (Bristol: 2.1, 3.8M).
Josh Berry’s win, which peaked with 3.4 million viewers, was the second Cup Series race to move from broadcast TV last year to cable this year, with both races hitting cable milestones — and suffering steep declines.
Under the new media rights deal that has begun this season, FS1 is airing races much earlier in the season, when viewership is traditionally stronger.
Over on CW, Xfinity Series racing at Vegas averaged a 0.6 and 1.08 million — flat and up 5% respectively from last year on FS1 (0.60, 1.0M). Unlike the Cup Series, the Xfinity Series has gone from primarily airing on cable to exclusively airing on broadcast.
F1 Australian GP hits mark, but down from last year’s season opener
The Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix averaged 1.1 million viewers on ESPN overnight Saturday, the largest audience on record for the event and more-than-double last year’s audience of 541,000, when the race did not lead off the season and aired on ESPN2. Lando Norris’ win, which peaked with 1.3 million in the 12:15 AM ET quarter-hour, comfortably surpassed the previous high of 659,000 set in 2019.
Compared to last year’s F1 season opener, viewership actually declined 1% from 1.12 million for a Saturday morning race from Bahrain.
TPC delivers largest audience of PGA TOUR season
Excluding weather delay coverage, last Sunday’s final round of The PLAYERS Championship averaged 3.66 million viewers on NBC — up 4% from last year and the largest audience of the season thus far. The previous high was 3.33 million for the final round at Pebble Beach.
A three-hole playoff on Monday between Rory McIlroy and J.J. Spaun averaged 1.27 million on Golf Channel, with that figure rising to 1.5 million including streaming.
Third round action on Saturday averaged 2.67 million (+10%).
