The second of three early morning London games was a dud on NFL Network. In other news, FOX posted a steep decline for its primetime college football on Saturday, and the F1 U.S. Grand Prix dipped on NBC.
NFL London Game Low on NFL Network
- The Giants/Rams NFL International Series game from London had a mere 2.8 overnight rating on NFL Network, almost certainly the lowest of the season for any NFL telecast.* There are no comparable figures for Bills/Jaguars in the same window last year, which aired exclusively via live stream. Excluding that game, the 2.8 is the lowest by far for one of the early morning London windows — falling below the previous mark of 5.5 for Colts/Jaguars on CBS earlier this season.
Steep Drop For CFB on FOX Saturday Night
- FOX earned a 1.5 overnight rating for Saturday’s Oklahoma/Texas Tech college football game, down 38% from Utah/USC last year (2.4). There was no comparable telecast in 2014. The Sooners’ high-scoring win faced tougher competition from ABC’s Saturday Night Football, which increased from a 3.3 last year to a 4.2 this year, as well as Game 6 of the MLB National League Championship Series (6.3). Earlier in the day, Utah/UCLA had a 1.2 overnight; there was no comparable window last year.
F1 U.S. GP Dips on NBC
- The Formula 1 United States Grand Prix had a 0.6 overnight rating on NBC Sunday afternoon, down a tick from both last year and 2014 (0.7) and the lowest for the race since it moved to NBC in 2013. The race pulled a lower overnight than its lead-in, Skate America in the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating (0.8). It also trailed the previous day’s NASCAR Truck Series race from Talladega on FOX (0.8).
* Overnights for one game, Dolphins/Bengals on NFL Network in Week 4, were not available.
(Wknd. numbers via Sports Business Daily)
