ESPNU scored a big increase in viewership for its first college football telecast of the season. In other news, NFL Network put up soft numbers for preseason action Thursday night, and ESPN’s Wednesday Night Baseball posted substantial gains.
ESPNU Sees Big Gains For CFB Opener
- Thursday’s Oklahoma State/Central Michigan college football game drew 358,000 viewers on ESPNU, up 113% from Wake Forest/Louisiana-Monroe last year (118K) and up 80% from Tulsa/Bowling Green in 2013 (199K). As one would expect, it was the least-watched of the four games on a Nielsen rated network Thursday night.
Soft Numbers For Thursday’s NFL Preseason Action
- The Eagles/Jets NFL preseason game drew 903,000 viewers on NFL Network Thursday night, down 26% from Bears/Browns last year (1.2M) and down 28% from Giants/Patriots in 2013 (1.3M). The Chargers/49ers nightcap scored just 580,000, still up 3% from a joined-in-progress Seahawks/Raiders game last year (564K) and up 5% from 49ers/Chargers in 2013 (551K). The games were the least-watched live preseason telecasts on any network this year.
Big Jump For Wednesday Night Baseball
- The Nationals/Cardinals Wednesday Night Baseball game earned 841,000 viewers on ESPN, up 44% from Yankees/Tigers last year (586K) and up 50% from Orioles/Red Sox in 2013 (560K). The Nationals’ win ranks as the third-most watched Wednesday night game this season, trailing Cubs/Giants the previous week (914K) and Red Sox/Yankees five weeks earlier (860K).
(Wed./Thu. numbers via ShowBuzz Daily [1], [2])
