A Nielsen error made San Antonio Spurs ratings look worse than they actually were. In other news, overnights fell for PGA-WGC Match Play, and the latest U.S. men’s national team match posted a big increase thanks to a move up the dial.
Nielsen Glitch Shortchanged Spurs
- Nielsen underreported local ratings for San Antonio Spurs games on Fox Sports Southwest for much of the season due to a “faulty encoder that failed to send a proper signal from FOX to Nielsen,” San Antonio Business Journal reported Monday. Spurs games had been averaging a 5.2 rating until the issue was fixed and “have been north of 7.0” since, though that would still trail last year’s average of 8.73. (bizjournals.com 3.27)
PGA Match Play Down From Last Year
- Final round coverage of the PGA Tour-WGC Match Play Championships scored a 1.8 overnight rating on NBC Sunday afternoon, down 18% from last year, when coverage faced virtually no other sports competition (2.2) but even with 2015, when the event took place in May. Third round coverage the previous day had a 1.5, down 12% from last year (1.7) and down 25% from primetime coverage in ’15 (2.0). (via Sports Business Daily 3.27)
USMNT on FS1: Bigger Than BeIN, But Smaller Than ESPN2, Univision
- Friday’s United States-Honduras World Cup qualifier scored 579,000 viewers on Fox Sports 1, up 257% from U.S.-Guatemala on the comparable night last year, which aired on beIN Sport (162K). Compared to the previous U.S. matches this year, viewership topped their February win over Jamaica on FS1 (338K) but trailed their January draw against Serbia on ESPN2 (596K). FS1 coverage topped the Spanish-language telecast on UniMas (446K) but trailed the competing Mexico-Costa Rica match on Univision (3.1M). (via ShowBuzz Daily 3.27, Programming Insider 3.28)
