A poor season for MLB on FOX ended with another rough outing. In other news, EPL viewership is up double-digits on NBCSN and the Ryder Cup was the oldest skewing sporting event on broadcast last weekend.
FOX Ends Rough MLB Season on Low Note
- Last Saturday’s Yankees/Red Sox Major League Baseball game, the second-to-last appearance of retired Yankees SS Derek Jeter, drew a 0.8 final rating and 1.1 million viewers on FOX — almost certainly the lowest rated baseball game ever on broadcast TV. The previous low was a 0.9 for coverage on FOX two weeks earlier. A major caveat is that Fox Sports 1 aired concurrent coverage of a Reds/Pirates game with playoff implications, earning a 0.2 and 340,000. The telecasts combined for a 1.0 and 1.5 million viewers, still below last year’s 1.1 and 1.6 million for regional action on FOX alone.
EPL Viewership Up Double-Digits on NBCSN
- Coverage of the English Premier League averaged 432,000 viewers on NBCSN through last Sunday, up 13% from the comparable point last year (381K). Last week’s top match — West Ham/Manchester United on Saturday morning — drew 550,000 viewers, up 46% from Aston Villa/Manchester City last year (376K).
Ryder Cup Oldest Skewing Event of the Weekend
- NBC’s Ryder Cup telecasts had the highest median age of any sporting event on broadcast last weekend. Live coverage had a median age of 60 on Saturday and 59 on Sunday, and an encore telecast Saturday afternoon skewed oldest at 63. Other than the Ryder Cup, the oldest skewing sports telecast last weekend was MLB on FOX at 57.
(Last week’s broadcast numbers from Nielsen, cable numbers from Awful Announcing)
