Major League Soccer benefited from an NFL lead-in on Sunday. In other news, the Yankees/Red Sox rivalry failed to deliver on FOX, and a move from cable to broadcast lifted NASCAR’s Xfinity Series.
MLS Earns Season-High Overnight With NFL Boost
- Regional Major League Soccer coverage featuring Toronto F.C./Red Bulls in 68% of markets earned a 0.8 overnight rating on FOX Sunday afternoon, easily the network’s highest of the season. None of its previous four windows exceeded a 0.4. The primary Toronto F.C./Red Bulls match had a direct lead-in from the NFL on FOX. In the 31% of markets that received the Sporting K.C./Galaxy match, coverage aired before the NFL.
Yankees/Red Sox Drops Double-Digits on FOX
- The latest edition of Major League Baseball on FOX, featuring Yankees/Red Sox in 88% of markets, had a 1.3 overnight rating Saturday afternoon — down 28% from last year, when coverage featured Yankees/Mets (1.8), but up 44% from 2014 (0.9). Overnights improved over the previous week’s 1.1 for coverage featuring Cubs/Astros.
Network Switch Boosts NASCAR Xfinity at Chicagoland
- NASCAR Xfinity Series racing from Chicagoland pulled a 1.1 overnight rating on the NBC broadcast network Saturday, up 57% from last year on NBCSN (0.7) and up 38% from 2014 on ESPN2 (0.8). The 1.1 tops the previous Xfinity Series race on NBC this season, Darlington over Labor Day weekend (1.0).
(Overnights via Sports Business Daily 9/19)
