NFL Network’s preseason opener bounced back from last year’s Olympic-affected numbers. In other news, Top Rank did not get an ESPN bump last weekend and horse racing’s Whitney Handicap hit a multi-year high.
Preseason Starts Stronger on NFL Network
- Wednesday’s Texans-Panthers NFL preseason game earned a 1.0 rating and 1.5 million viewers on NFL Network, up 25% in ratings and 18% in viewership from the channel’s first preseason game last year, Saints-Patriots opposite the Olympics (0.8, 1.2M). The Panthers’ win earned a larger audience than every preseason game on NFL Network last year. Compared to NFL Network’s Packers-Patriots preseason opener in 2015, viewership plunged 40% from 2.5 million. Previous preseason openers aired on Thursday nights. [Programming Insider 8.10]
Lomachenko ESPN Debut Down From Previous HBO Bout
- Last Saturday’s Vasyl Lomachenko–Miguel Marriaga Top Rank Boxing match earned a 0.47 rating and 728,000 viewers on ESPN, down 13% from Lomachenko’s previous bout on HBO (832K). The telecast trailed competing UFC coverage on Fox Sports 1 (0.52, 859K), though it beat the UFC in adults 18-49 (407K to 398K). [SB Nation 8.8]
Whitney Handicap Hits High
- Horse racing’s Whitney Handicap earned a 0.8 rating and 1.1 million viewers on NBC Saturday, up a tick in ratings and 15% in viewership from 2015 (0.7, 994K) and the largest audience for the event since at least 2012. The race had a direct lead-in from Usain Bolt‘s final men’s 100m. It aired on Fox Sports 2 last year due to NBC’s Olympics coverage, earning just 29,000 viewers. [ShowBuzz Daily 8.8]
