Airing on ABC for the first time, the national championship of women’s college gymnastics delivered the sport’s top audience in a decade. Plus: a strong-performing F1 race nearly matched IndyCar’s season opener; the MLS season began on a mixed note; and more.
NCAA women’s gymnastics vaults to decade-high in ABC debut
Airing on ABC for the first time, Saturday’s NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championships averaged a 0.52 rating and 808,000 viewers — up 510% in viewership from the last time the event was held in 2019 and the largest college gymnastics audience ever on the ESPN family of networks. Overall, it was the most-watched college gymnastics telecast since 2011, the previous time the national championship aired on broadcast TV. CBS aired coverage on tape-delay that year.
Including Friday’s semifinals on ESPN2, nationals averaged 331,000 viewers — up 203% from 2019 and an ESPN-record for the event.
Strong F1 race nearly matches IndyCar opener
Sunday’s Formula 1 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix averaged a 0.53 rating and 906,000 viewers on ESPN, the largest audience for any race since the 2019 Canadian Grand Prix on ABC (1.1M) and the sixth-largest F1 audience ever on cable. Despite airing in a morning window on cable, ratings and viewership nearly matched Sunday afternoon’s season-opening IndyCar Grand Prix of Alabama on NBC (0.59, 914K).
As for the IndyCar race, ratings declined 26% and viewership 27% from last year’s months-delayed, primetime opener from Texas (0.8, 1.25M) but increased 84% and 85% respectively from the 2019 opener from St. Petersburg on NBCSN (0.32, 495K).
Including additional streaming viewership not measured by Nielsen, the race averaged 921,000 viewers. Compared to the previous Alabama race in 2019, viewership jumped 185% from 301,000.
MLS openers a mixed bag
Saturday’s LAFC-Austin FC Major League Soccer match averaged a 0.24 rating and 485,000 viewers on FOX, down 48% in ratings and 36% in viewership from the network’s first telecast last season, which aired in primetime (2/29/20 Nashville-Atlanta: 0.46, 756K). It was the most-watched match of the season’s opening weekend.
On Sunday, ABC averaged a 0.30 and 482,000 for Inter Miami-LA Galaxy — up 50% and 55% respectively from last year’s comparable opening weekend window on ESPN (3/1/20 Seattle-Chicago: 0.20, 311K). The match drew an additional 75,000 on ESPN Deportes.
Plus: UFC, NHL, Jeopardy!
ESPN’s latest UFC main event averaged a 0.55 rating and 953,000 viewers Saturday night, the most-watched main card on any network since January on ABC (1.22M). Both the main event and the prelims (0.50, 879K) outdrew a competing Premier Boxing Champions card on FOX (0.50, 813K). … NBC averaged a 0.63 and 1.07 million for Sunday’s Capitals-Bruins NHL game, the league’s largest full-game audience since February 14 (Capitals-Penguins: 1.33M). NBC also drew a 0.43 and 701,000 for Penguins-Sabres on Saturday, while NBCSN chipped in 379,000 for Islanders-Flyers on Sunday and 237,000 for Red Wings-Stars on Monday. … According to Sports Business Journal’s Austin Karp, Jeopardy! averaged 9.19 million viewers in the first week of Aaron Rodgers’ guest-hosting gig, up 14% from the previous week, but only its tenth-largest weekly average since the end of Alex Trebek’s run.
[Nielsen estimates from ESPN, ShowBuzz Daily 4.20 a, b; Austin Karp/Twitter 4.20 a, b]
