The Alliance of American Football topped the Saturday afternoon competition in adults 18-49. Also: the Warriors lead the NBA local ratings race despite a double-digit decline, and NASCAR’s Xfinity and Truck Series were mixed at Daytona.
AAF tops Saturday afternoon sports in 18-49
Saturday’s Salt Lake-Birmingham Alliance of American Football game scored a 0.6 rating and 1.02 million viewers on TNT, ranking second out of the new league’s five Nielsen-rated telecasts thus far. The inaugural airing on CBS had a 1.9 and 3.25 million.
Birmingham’s win topped all other Saturday afternoon sporting events in adults 18-49 (0.37), including the PGA Tour on CBS (0.29) and NASCAR Xfinity Series on FS1 (0.20). Regardless of timeslot, it ranked fourth among Saturday sportcasts behind NBA All-Star Saturday Night (2.2) and the Tennessee-Kentucky (0.8) and NC State-Duke (0.6) college basketball games.
In other AAF action, NFL Network drew a 0.26 and 424,000 for Arizona-Memphis on Saturday night and a 0.27 and 425,000 for Atlanta-San Diego on Sunday night.
Warriors down, but lead local ratings race
Golden State Warriors games averaged an NBA-high 7.43 rating on NBC Sports Bay Area entering the All-Star break, still down 16% from last year, according to Sports Business Daily. Golden State was one of at least 13 teams to post a decline so far this season, joining other contenders like Oklahoma City (6.3, -10%) and San Antonio (4.35, -34%), as well as a number of cellar dwellars, like the Cavaliers (3.5, -56%), Knicks (1.1, -41%) and Bulls (1.3, -36%).
At least half of the league’s teams have posted increases so far this season, including LeBron James‘ Lakers (2.6, +42%), the Luca Doncic-led Mavericks (1.3, +74%), and the contending Rockets (2.2, +33%), Jazz (6.3, +58%) and Nuggets (1.2, +85%).
Overall, the league’s average rating across 28 regional sports networks declined ten percent from last year.
Xfinity low, Trucks up, at Daytona
The NASCAR Xfinity Series opener from Daytona scored a 1.0 rating and 1.53 million viewers on FS1 last Saturday, down 16% in ratings and 17% in viewership from last year (1.15, 1.85M) and down 29% and 32% respectively from 2017 (1.4, 2.25M). It was the least-watched edition of the race since at least 2007, and likely further back.
Just four years ago, the race had a 1.7 and 2.94 million in its first airing on FS1.
Meanwhile, Friday’s NASCAR Truck Series race from Daytona bucked the downward trend with a 0.7 (+12%) and 1.06 million (+13%) on FS1.
[Numbers from Nielsen via ShowBuzz Daily 2.20, Sports Business Journal 2.18]
