With more than half the games on a secondary ESPN network, the men’s College World Series sank nearly a third from 2019. Plus: the latest numbers for Major League Baseball and the UEFA Euros.
Men’s College World Series sinks with fewer ESPN windows
The men’s College World Series averaged 755,000 viewers on the ESPN family of networks, down 32% from the last time the event was held in 2019 (1.11M). Keep in mind only six of the 16 total games aired on the flagship ESPN network, compared to 14 in 2019. In addition, several games were delayed due to rain and the event had to contend with unusual competition from the NBA and NHL playoffs.
Wednesday’s deciding Game 3 of the College World Series final (Mississippi State-Vanderbilt) averaged a tournament-high 1.67 million viewers on ESPN2, down a relatively modest 16% from the 2019 Game 3 on ESPN (Vanderbilt-Michigan: 2.00M). Game 2, the only game of the final to air on ESPN, averaged 1.41 million (-28%).
Monday’s rain delayed Game 1 chipped in just 385,000 on ESPN2, down 79% from ’19 (1.88M) and the least-watched game of the CWS final since at least 2008. The previous mark was 503,000 for Game 3 of Coastal Carolina-Arizona in 2008, a Thursday afternoon game on ESPNU.
Notably, the men’s College World Series averaged fewer viewers than the women’s tournament several weeks earlier (1.20M). Thirteen of the 17 women’s games aired on the ESPN flagship.
MLB on FOX nears season-high despite drop
Regional Major League Baseball action on FOX (Yankees-Red Sox or Cubs-Dodgers) averaged 2.43 million viewers last Saturday night, down 17% from the comparable 2019 window (mostly Astros-Yankees: 2.91M), but still the third-largest audience of the season. FOX has aired the top four windows of the season.
FS1 chipped in 275,000 for Royals-Rangers earlier in the day.
The following day, Cubs-Dodgers pulled 1.34 million on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball — up 5% from 2019 (Angels-Cardinals: 1.28M) — and Yankees-Red Sox drew 523,000 on TBS.
Going back to last week, a pair of Dodgers-Padres games on ESPN averaged 700,000 viewers on June 21 and 724,000 on June 23. Versus Giants-Dodgers in the same windows two years ago, the former declined 11% (from 786K) and the latter increased 18% (from 612K).
UEFA Euros still up big from ’16
Entering the quarterfinals, the UEFA “Euro 2020” tournament averaged 1.06 million viewers on ESPN and ABC, up 29% from 2016 (822K). That includes an average of 1.82 million for the round of sixteen (+38%).
Last Sunday’s Belgium-Portugal match averaged the largest audience of the tournament thus far with 2.65 million viewers on ABC, the fifth-largest audience for the UEFA Euros since ESPN and ABC began airing the event in 2008. The top four consist of the final matches in 2008 (4.13M), 2012 (4.57M) and 2016 (4.54M) and an Italy-England quarterfinal in 2012 (3.10M).
ABC also averaged 2.08 million for Italy-Austria last Saturday. ESPN topped out at 1.96 million for France-Switzerland on Monday, followed by 1.86 million for England-Germany on Tuesday and 1.70 million for Netherlands-Czech Republic last Sunday. All eight round of sixteen matches averaged at least 1.2 million viewers.
[Nielsen estimates from ESPN, John Ourand/Twitter 6.29, 6.30, 7.1, Spoiler TV 6.30 a, b, c, d, ESPN]
