From Sports Media Watch, a one-stop page for all sports ratings news.
Jon Lewis
Last weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series race from Talladega (Ala.) averaged a 2.1 rating and 3.97 million viewers on FOX, down a tick in ratings and 2% in viewership from last year (2.2, 4.04M). Excluding 2020, when the race was delayed several weeks and then postponed due to rain, Carson Hocevar’s win was the least-watched spring Talladega race since it began airing on FOX in 2001.
The corresponding O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race drew 1.34 million on CW, up 6% from last year. The first 11 races on CW this season have averaged a seven-figure audience.
Source: Nielsen, Nexstar
Jon Lewis
Viewership milestones are nothing new for the Kentucky Derby, but in the current era of measurement, it is setting those marks by ever-greater lengths.
Jon Lewis
Monday’s Pistons-Magic first round NBA playoff Game 4 averaged a combined 5.4 million viewers on NBC across Nielsen and Adobe Analytics, up 155% from a Nielsen-only audience of 2.1 million for a non-exclusive Cavaliers-Heat Game 4 on TNT Sports last year.
Viewership also increased 15% from Hawks-Knicks Game 2 in the same Monday night NBC window the prior week.
Later in the night, Timberwolves-Nuggets Game 5 averaged 3.9 million — actually down from Rockets-Warriors on TNT Sports last year (4.0M).
On Tuesday night, Hawks-Knicks Game 5 averaged 3.8 million on NBC, the most-watched game on a night that included a competing NBA doubleheader on ESPN. Last year’s closest equivalent window was Magic-Celtics on NBA TV, which was subject to local blackout and averaged 739,000.
Source: NBC Sports
Jon Lewis
The final two days of the NFL Draft fell further off pace without the notable drama that fueled last year’s later rounds.
Jon Lewis
The new NBA media rights deal has already been a boon for the league’s playoff viewership.
Jon Lewis
The hot start to the Stanley Cup Playoffs has sustained itself through the second weekend of play.
Jon Lewis
Coverage of the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs was averaging 1.15 million viewers through the first five days, up 76% from last year and the highest average on record at that point of the postseason. This year’s average is up 30% from the previous high of 887,000 in 2012, and up 39% from the previous high during the current media rights deal — 832,000 in 2024.
Jon Lewis
The opening round of the NFL Draft saw a slight dip in viewership from a year ago.
Jon Lewis
On the latest edition of “The Needle,” a look at the impact — or lack thereof — of Tyler Reddick and Michael Jordan on NASCAR’s ratings.
Jon Lewis
NBA playoff viewership bounced back in a big way after back-to-back weeknight doubleheaders on primetime broadcast television.
Jon Lewis
If off from last year’s high, the NBA Playoffs got off to one of its better starts of late in year one of the league’s media rights deal.
Jon Lewis
Coming off of a strong regular season, the NHL opened its postseason at an even hotter pace.
Jon Lewis
Chalk it up to a rare ‘Olympic bump’ — or not — but hockey would seem to be enjoying some clear viewership momentum.
Jon Lewis
The UFC followed up a strong showing on CBS last month with an even better performance last weekend.
Jon Lewis
Now airing exclusively on streaming, NBA Play-in Tournament viewership is nonetheless trending ahead of last year on cable.
Jon Lewis
It is increasingly clear that the growth in women’s basketball viewership is no flash in the pan.
Jon Lewis
“Sunday Night Baseball” was not exactly a home run in its NBC debut, but whether on the diamond or in the ratings, even a single is still a hit.
Jon Lewis
The first year of the new NBA media rights deal delivered a sizable increase in viewership.
Jon Lewis
Rory McIlroy’s flair for the dramatic again lifted viewership for the final round of the Masters.
Jon Lewis
It remains to be seen if LeBron James alone is enough for the Lakers to stay competitive on the court, but he might be all they need to stay afloat in the ratings.
Jon Lewis
Perhaps it is too early to write the obituaries for championship sporting events on cable.
Jon Lewis
Easter Sunday continues to fuel milestone sports viewership, as the NCAA women’s basketball national championship entered rare territory despite an all-time blowout.
Jon Lewis
On the latest edition of “The Needle,” a look at how much longer the Men’s Final Four can conceivably continue airing on cable.
Jon Lewis
Viewership for the NCAA women’s basketball tournament is trailing the past two years heading into the Final Four, but remains well above what had once been the norm.
Jon Lewis
On a day of March Madness matinees, the NBA’s new media rights deal allowed it to capitalize on an unopposed primetime window.
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