UEFA ratings sank in TNT’s debut; NASCAR’s Truck Series hit a high on primetime broadcast television; Red Sox-Phillies was no match for last year’s Subway Series.
UEFA Super Cup Plunges in TNT Debut
Wednesday’s Real Madrid-Atletico Madrid UEFA Super Cup match, the first UEFA match on Turner Sports, delivered 173,000 viewers on TNT — down 45% from last year (Real Madrid-Manchester United: 315K) but up 59% from 2016 (Real Madrid-Sevilla: 109K). The Super Cup, the season opening match that pits the winners of the previous UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League seasons, aired on FS1 prior to this year.
It is of course worth noting that Manchester United’s presence helped spike last year’s numbers. Had this year’s match involved Man U — or perhaps Barcelona, whose matchup with Sevilla three years ago had 338,000 viewers — TNT could well have drawn much better numbers.
Keep in mind viewership does not include coverage on Turner Sports’ B/R Live over-the-top service, though it is highly unlikely viewership on that platform could make up the difference.
Spanish-language coverage had 698,000 viewers across Univision and Univision Deportes Network. Last year’s Spanish-language audience on ESPN Deportes was not immediately available.
NASCAR Trucks Hits High in Primetime Network Debut
The NASCAR Truck Series from Bristol earned a 0.7 rating and 1.09 million viewers on the FOX broadcast network Thursday night, marking the largest Truck Series audience in more than a year — since Martinsville in April 2017 (1.59M). The race was the first ever Truck Series event on primetime broadcast television. Compared to the same race on FS1 last year, which was delayed due to rain, viewership increased an unsurprising 360% (236K).
In other racing action, last Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race from Mid-Ohio drew 0.49 rating and 714,000 on NBCSN — down 16% in ratings and 22% in viewership from last year (0.58, 916K) and down 23% and 28% respectively from 2016 on USA Network opposite the Olympics (0.64, 985K).
Sox-Phillies Not Bad, But No Match For Subway Series
Wednesday’s Red Sox-Phillies Major League Baseball game scored a 0.49 rating and 740,000 viewers on ESPN, down 17% in ratings and 13% in viewership from Yankees-Mets last year (0.6, 855K). Compared to Red Sox-Orioles two years ago, which aired opposite the Olympics, viewership increased 77% from 419,000.
[Numbers from Nielsen via ShowBuzz Daily 8.14, 8.16, Programming Insider 8.16, Fox Sports PR/Twitter 8.17, Univision PR/Twitter 8.17]
