Ratings roundup, including multi-year highs for NFL preseason games, NASCAR at Richmond, the FedEx Cup and Little League Softball.
ESPN, NFL Network, hit preseason highs
Thursday’s Bears-Seahawks NFL preseason game averaged a 1.5 rating and 2.65 million viewers on ESPN, marking the network’s most-watched preseason opener in six years (Cowboys-Rams: 3.21M). Ratings and viewership increased double-digits from the network’s first preseason game last year, Chiefs-Cardinals on a Friday night (1.3, ~2.2M).
In other preseason action, abbreviated coverage of last Saturday’s Seahawks-Steelers game pulled a 1.2 and 2.16 million on NFL Network — the most-watched preseason game on the league-owned outlet since 2015. Head-to-head, the game outdrew a competing Major League Baseball window on FOX that featured Yankees-Red Sox (2.08M).
Earlier in the day, Colts-Bills drew a 1.1 and 1.879 million and Chiefs-Bears a 0.8 and 1.42 million. The Cowboys-Broncos nightcap drew a 0.95 and 1.67 million. NFL Network also drew a 0.9 and 1.65 million for Vikings-Raiders last Sunday.
Move away from football season boosts NASCAR at Richmond
Last Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race from Richmond (Va.) averaged 1.45 rating and 2.39 million viewers on USA Network, up 36% in ratings and a third in viewership from last year, when the race aired on a Saturday night during the football season (1.1, 1.8M).
This year marked the first time since 1990 that the season’s second Richmond race was not scheduled for a college football Saturday. Not surprisingly, given the lack of football competition, viewership was the highest for the race in six years (2.71M).
FedEx Cup posts largest opening audience in five years
Final round coverage of the PGA Tour FedEx Cup St. Jude Championship, which went to a playoff, averaged a 1.8 rating and 2.97 million viewers on NBC last Sunday — the largest audience for the first leg of the FedEx Cup since 2017 (3.14M). Last year’s equivalent final round of The Northern Trust aired on a Monday due to rain.
This is the first year that the PGA Tour’s annual Memphis stop is part of the FedEx Cup. Compared to previous editions of the Memphis tournament, ratings and viewership comfortably topped last year’s edition (1.5, ~2.4M) but were no match for two years ago (2.1, 3.20M).
Little League Softball viewership hits high
The Little League Softball World Series averaged 294,000 viewers across ESPN and ESPN2, up 19% from last year, up 21% from 2019 and the largest audience for the tournament since the networks began expanded coverage five years ago. The high-water mark for the tournament was 537,000 for last Sunday’s Hewitt (Tex.)-Chesterfield (Va.) semifinal, the largest audience for an individual game since 2018.
Tuesday’s Hewitt-Delmar (Md.) title game, which moved from primetime to Noon ET due to weather, drew just 280,000 — below the consolation game that followed (Chesterfield – Philippines: 370K).
Meanwhile, the Little League Baseball World Series regionals averaged 558,000 viewers — a slight uptick over last year (552K). The top game was the Massapequa (N.Y.)-Toms River (N.J.) Metro Regional final at 868,000.
(Nielsen estimates from Programming Insider 8.19, ShowBuzz Daily 8.16)
