Recent sports TV ratings news, including Thursday’s Patriots/Falcons exhibition on FOX and a head-to-head battle between Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN and the NFL preseason on NFL Network.
- Thursday’s Patriots/Falcons NFL preseason game drew a 3.7 final rating and 5.785 million viewers on FOX, down 12% in both ratings and viewership from Eagles/Colts on the comparable night last year (4.2, 6.559 mil) and up 68% and 83%, respectively, from Panthers/Eagles opposite the Olympics in 2008 (2.2, 3.160 mil). (pifeedback.com)
- In a head-to-head battle between regular season baseball and preseason football, baseball was victorious — with one caveat. ESPN drew a 1.5 U.S. rating and 2.305 million viewers for Phillies/Mets last Sunday night, topping a nationally televised Broncos/Bengals preseason game airing at the same time (1.2, 2.011 mil). That preseason game aired on NFL Network, which is in significantly fewer homes than ESPN. (Sports Business Daily)
- Taped coverage of the Visa Gymnastics Championships drew a 0.5 final rating and 711,000 viewers on NBC Sunday afternoon, down 37% in ratings and 34% in viewership from taped coverage on a Saturday last year (0.8, 1.073 mil). Sunday’s coverage drew less than a third of the audience of Saturday’s primetime window (1.5, 2.275 mil). (Sports Business Daily)
