Ratings roundup — Notre Dame’s rout of Navy was no match for last year’s Ireland game; the Little League World Series hit an eight-year high; plus, numbers for the Tour Championship, NASCAR at Daytona, Simone Biles’ win and US Open tennis.
Notre Dame rout down from last year’s Ireland game
Saturday’s Navy-Notre Dame college football game from Ireland averaged a 1.9 rating and 3.56 million viewers on NBC, down 24% in ratings and 19% in viewership from last year’s “week zero” game from Ireland, Nebraska-Northwestern on FOX (2.5, 4.42M). Compared to NBC’s first Notre Dame game last season — against Marshall in week two — ratings jumped 38% (from 1.4) and viewership 44% (from 2.48M).
Including a streaming audience of 251,000 on NBC Sports’ digital platforms, the game averaged 3.81 million — NBC’s largest Notre Dame audience in two years (2021 vs. Cincinnati: 3.97M) and its most-watched opener in three (2020 vs. Duke: 4.42M).
Notre Dame’s rout, which peaked early at 3.97 million from 3:30-3:45 PM ET, was easily the most-watched game of a light week zero. The MEAC/SWAC Challenge (South Carolina State-Jackson State) ranked a distant second at a 0.6 and 922,000 in primetime on ABC, up big from last year on ESPN (Howard-Alabama State: 0.26, 485K). (More numbers here.)
Shifting to the pros, Sunday’s primetime NFL preseason finale (Texans-Saints) averaged a 2.4 and 4.23 million on FOX — down from Lions-Steelers in a late afternoon window on CBS last year (3.3, 5.82M). CBS drew a 1.9 and 3.43 million for Lions-Panthers Friday night.
Baseball Little League World Series hits eight-year high
Baseball’s Little League World Series averaged 1.08 million viewers across the ESPN family of networks, up 22% from last year and the highest average for the event since 2015. Sunday’s El Segundo, Ca.-Willemstad, Curacao title game averaged a 1.6 and 2.94 million on ABC, up 13% in ratings and 18% in viewership from last year (Honolulu-Curacao: 1.4, 2.5M) and the most-watched championship since 2019 (River Ridge, La.-Curacao: 3.02M).
Viewership for the title game peaked at 4.06 million from 5:15-5:30 PM ET, the quarter-hour encompassing the U.S. team’s walk-off win.
Saturday’s El Segundo-Needville, Tex., U.S. Championship averaged a 1.4 and 2.53 million, flat in ratings and up 4% in viewership from last year (Honolulu-Nolensville, Tenn.: 1.4, 2.42M). The Curacao-Taiwan International Championship rounded out the weekend slate at a 1.0 and 1.68 million (+9%).
Weather-delay shrinks audience for Tour Championship
Final round coverage of The Tour Championship, the finale of the PGA Tour season and FedEx Cup, averaged 3.10 million viewers on CBS across all six hours of coverage Sunday — down from last year on NBC (3.62M). For ratings purposes, the final round of the tournament is generally divided into a 90-minute lead-in (1:30-3 PM) and traditional three-hour window (3-6 PM). Due to a weather delay, this year’s lead-in window stretched more than four hours (1:30-5:34 PM) and the main broadcast barely two (5:34-7:37 PM).
The abbreviated main portion of the telecast was actually the most-watched in five years — since Tiger Woods’ 2018 win — with 4.61 million, but the expanded lead-in window dragged down the numbers with 2.33 million (-8%).
Overall, CBS averaged 2.21 million viewers for PGA Tour coverage this season, up 1% from last year, when it did not carry the FedEx Cup (2.20M).
Plus: Racing, gymnastics, baseball, tennis
— Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series regular season finale from Daytona averaged a 1.8 rating and 3.27 million viewers on NBC, marking the lowest rated and least-watched edition of the race (excluding makeup races). The previous lows were a 2.1 and 3.29 million in 2019. NBC also averaged a 0.6 and 1.09 million for IndyCar action the following day, unsurprisingly up from last year on USA Network (0.34, 553K).
— Simone Biles’ win at the U.S. Gymnastics Championships averaged a 1.6 and 2.66 million viewers on NBC Sunday night, up 61% in ratings and 73% in viewership from last year, when she did not compete (1.0, 1.54M). Viewership trailed Biles’ previous wins in 2018 (3.08M) and 2019 (2.78M).
— The latest edition of MLB Sunday Night Baseball (Braves-Giants) averaged a combined 1.0 and 1.76 million across ESPN (0.9, 1.59M), a “KayRod” simulcast on ESPN2 (0.1, 126K) and ESPN Deportes (0.0, 44K), down from Braves-Cardinals on ESPN alone the same weekend last year (1.1, 1.89M).
— Primetime U.S. Open tennis coverage averaged 939,000 viewers on ESPN Monday night, down 46% from the comparable night last year, which featured Serena Williams in the final tournament of her career (1.75M). Daytime coverage averaged 527,000 (-16%).
For more ratings, see this week’s chart. Additional ratings information from Sports TV Ratings 8.29)
