The second annual Pro Bowl Skills Competition posted a double-digit increase on ESPN. In other news, the Winter X Games got off to a poor start, NBC scored a Premier League bump last weekend, and the East-West Shrine Game hit a multi-year high.
Pro Bowl Skills Up 19% on ESPN
Thursday’s Pro Bowl Skills Competition had a 0.7 rating and 1.17 million viewers on ESPN, up 19% in viewership from last year’s inaugural edition, which aired in an earlier timeslot (989K). Last year’s rating was unavailable. It was the night’s most-watched program on ESPN, beating the college basketball game that preceded it (Michigan-Purdue: 1.15M).
Fewer Than 400K For Night One of Winter X Games
Night one of the Winter X Games pulled a mere 0.27 rating and 399,000 viewers on ESPN Thursday, down 13% in ratings and 19% in viewership from last year (0.31, 498K). It lost two-thirds of its lead-in from the aforementioned Pro Bowl Skills Competition.
Last Week’s EPL Up on NBC, Down on NBCSN
Last Saturday’s Manchester City-Newcastle English Premier League match scored a 0.61 rating and 890,000 viewers on the NBC broadcast network, up 11% in ratings and 9% in viewership from last year (Tottenham-Middlesbrough: 0.55. 815K). It was the top EPL match of the week 24.
Earlier in the day on NBCSN, Burnley-Manchester United had 452,000 (-8%) and Brighton-Chelsea 232,000 (-48%). Rounding out the action, Southampton-Liverpool drew 428,000 on Sunday (-26%) and Swansea-Liverpool 251,000 on Monday.
East-West Shrine Game Hits High
Last Saturday’s college football East-West Shrine Game had a 0.32 rating and 472,000 viewers on NFL Network, up a third in ratings and 24% in viewership from last year (0.24, 381K) and up 7% and 12% respectively from 2016 (0.30, 422K). It was the most-watched edition of the game since at least 2012. Figures for the competing Collegiate Bowl were not immediately available.
