Thursday Night Football drew one of its better ratings this season, if still down from last year. Also: some steep declines for the ACC/Big Ten Challenge; high marks for F1 and a trio of soccer leagues.
Rams’ rout of Pats among better TNF games this year
The latest edition of NFL Thursday Night Football (Patriots-Rams) averaged a Nielsen-estimated 8.1 rating and 13.64 million viewers on FOX and NFL Network, down 25% in ratings and 24% in viewership from Week 14 last year (Cowboys-Bears: 10.8, 18.00M) but up 21% and 27% from 2018 (Jaguars-Titans: 6.7, 10.76M). The Rams’ win ranks third out of the nine FOX/NFL Network simulcasts this season (two of those games were postponed from Thursday night).
A few steep declines for ACC/Big Ten Challenge
ESPN’s Tuesday ACC/Big Ten Challenge doubleheader of North Carolina-Iowa (1.18M) and Illinois-Duke (881K) declined 29% and 44% respectively from the corresponding doubleheader last year (Michigan-Louisville: 1.66M; Duke-Michigan State: 1.59M). On Wednesday, Indiana-Florida State (896K) bucked the trend with a 9% increase (vs. Notre Dame-Maryland: 819K), while Pittsburgh-Northwestern (582K) plunged 62% (vs. Ohio State-UNC: 1.54M).
F1’s second Bahrain race among most-watched of season
Last weekend’s Formula 1 Sakhir Grand Prix from Bahrain averaged a 0.40 rating and 717,000 viewers on ESPN2, marking the season’s most-watched race on ESPN2 and fourth-most watched overall. The race easily outdrew the previous week’s Bahrain Grand Prix (0.31, 500K), which aired earlier in the day and was delayed two hours by a fiery crash.
UEFA, Liga MX, MLS, at highs
Tuesday’s Barcelona-Juventus UEFA Champions League group stage match averaged 1.07 million viewers on Univision and TUDN, marking the largest audience ever for a UCL group stage match on any network. The previous high was 757,000 for a meeting of the same clubs in October.
In other international soccer action, Univision averaged 1.9 million for the second leg of the Léon-Chivas Liga MX semifinal last Saturday and 1.8 million for the second leg of UNAM-Cruz Azul last Sunday. The matches rank as the third and fourth-most watched soccer telecasts on any network in 2020, behind the UEFA Champions League final in August (2.05M) and the America-Chivas Liga MX quarterfinal over Thanksgiving weekend (2.5M).
On the domestic side, the December 3 Sporting KC-Minnesota United MLS semifinal averaged 851,000 viewers on the FOX broadcast network — the second-largest MLS playoff audience, outside of the MLS Cup, since 1998. The match aired in place of a postponed Thursday Night Football game.
Tuesday’s Barcelona-Juventus UEFA Champions League group stage match averaged 1.07 million viewers on Univision and TUDN, marking the largest audience ever for a UCL group stage match on any network. The previous high was 757,000 for a meeting of the same clubs in October.
In other international soccer action, Univision averaged 1.9 million for the second leg of the Léon-Chivas Liga MX semifinal last Saturday and 1.8 million for the second leg of UNAM-Cruz Azul last Sunday. The matches rank as the third and fourth-most watched soccer telecasts on any network in 2020, behind the UEFA Champions League final in August (2.05M) and the America-Chivas Liga MX quarterfinal over Thanksgiving weekend (2.5M).
On the domestic side, the December 3 Sporting KC-Minnesota United MLS semifinal averaged 851,000 viewers on the FOX broadcast network — the second-largest MLS playoff audience, outside of the MLS Cup, since 1998. The match aired in place of a postponed Thursday Night Football game.
[Nielsen estimates from Programming Insider 12.12, ShowBuzz Daily 12.9, 12.10, ESPN, Univision, Fox Sports PR/Twitter 12.8]
