Sports Ratings Tracker

The season premiere of NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” (Ravens-Bills) averaged 24.7 million viewers across Nielsen and Adobe Analytics, the highest for SNF in Week 1 of the season in three years. With an Adobe Analytics audience of 3.0 million, the Nielsen-measured viewership would clock in around 21.7 million.

Keep in mind Nielsen is using a new methodology this season that combines its existing panel with “Big Data” for set-top boxes and smart TVs, a figure that will generally be higher than the panel-only numbers that were the currency prior to this year.

As previously noted, last Thursday’s Cowboys-Eagles Kickoff Game averaged 28.3 million (5.0 million per Adobe Analytics, meaning a Nielsen-only audience of about 23.3 million).

NBC averaged 26.5 million viewers for its Week 1 slate, its highest since 2015. Again, keep in mind that prior year averages did not include “Big Data.”

Saturday’s Baylor-SMU college football game averaged 1.0 million viewers on CW, the network’s third-largest college football audience (keeping in mind that this is the first year of Nielsen “Big Data + Panel” measurement). CW also drew 565,000 for Fresno State-Oregon State and 540,000 for San Diego State-Washington State.

All three games outdrew the week one CW contest, Idaho-Washington State at 364,000.

Saturday’s Oklahoma State-Oregon college football game averaged 2.32 million viewers on CBS. That is up 2% from 2.28 million for Iowa State-Iowa last year, but the difference could easily be made up by the change in Nielsen methodology.

Compared to the prior week, viewership increased from 2.24 million for Nevada-Penn State in week one.

FOX averaged 17.9 million viewers for the Week 1 NFL singleheader, featuring Giants-Commanders, marking the largest Week 1 audience for the window since 2015. That was also the last time that FOX carried a singleheader in Week 1.

In addition, Nielsen is using a new methodology this season that combines its existing panel with “Big Data” for set-top boxes and smart TVs, a figure that will generally be higher than the panel-only numbers that were the currency prior to this year.

Keep in mind that Nielsen is using a new methodology this season that combines its existing panel with “Big Data” for set-top boxes and smart TVs, a figure that will generally be higher than the panel-only numbers that were the currency prior to this year.

CBS averaged an 11.0 rating and 23.89 million viewers for its Week 1 NFL national window, featuring Lions-Packers, marking the network’s largest Week 1 audience since 1998.

The network’s early game window, featuring Steelers-Jets, averaged an 8.0 and 17.05 million — its second-largest Week 1 audience in that window since 1998. Combined, the Week 1 doubleheader averaged a 9.4 and 20.38 million (+15%).

The numbers come with some caveats. CBS has only aired two other unopposed Week 1 doubleheaders since 1998, one in 2000 and the other in 2015.

In addition, Nielsen is using a new methodology this season that combines its existing panel with “Big Data” for set-top boxes and smart TVs, a figure that will generally be higher than the panel-only numbers that were the currency prior to this year.

Saturday’s Texas-Ohio State college football game averaged 16.62 million viewers on FOX, marking the largest week one college football audience on record, with the caveat that Nielsen’s “Big Data + Panel” metric dates back only three years.

The Buckeyes’ win was one of four college football games in week one to top the ten million viewer mark. On ABC, Notre Dame-Miami averaged 10.8 million viewers on Sunday night, Florida State’s upset of Alabama drew 10.7 million Saturday afternoon, and LSU-Clemson drew 10.4 million in the season premiere of Saturday Night Football.

For more, see this article.

The Week 1 edition of ESPN’s “College Gameday,” which marked the final appearance of the retiring Lee Corso, averaged 3.5 million viewers according to Nielsen fast-nationals — the largest audience ever for the show. As might go without saying, viewership peaked in the final quarter-hour — when Corso made his final headgear pick — at 5.1 million viewers.

For more on the numbers, see this article.

Last weekend’s Kansas State-Iowa State college football game from Dublin, Ireland, topped the “week zero” slate with 4.01 million viewers across ESPN and ESPNU, down 20% from Florida State-Georgia Tech last year (4.99M), but up from Notre Dame-Navy on NBC two years ago (3.56M).

For more on the “week zero” numbers, see this article.

NFL preseason games averaged 2.2 million viewers across TV and digital platforms, up 17% from last year and the highest average since 2018. That includes an average of 1.8 million for games on NFL Network, the league-owned channel’s largest preseason audience on record and an increase of 26% from last year.

NFL Network had its most-watched preseason game since 2015 with 49ers-Raiders averaging 2.5 million viewers on August 16.

In addition to the previously noted 5.1 million viewers for Bears-Bills on FOX and 6.2 million for the Chargers-Lions Hall of Fame Game on NBC, ESPN averaged 2.90 million for Bengals-Commanders on August 18 and CBS drew 2.56 million for Vikings-Titans on August 22.

Last weekend’s Saturday night NASCAR Cup Series race from Daytona averaged a 1.8 rating and 3.30 million viewers on NBC, down 10% in ratings and 6% in viewership from last year (1.9, 3.5M). The race was delayed a half-hour due to a red flag, during which viewership dipped by 10 percent from the previous half-hour.

Ryan Blaney’s win, which peaked with 3.6 million viewers, was still the most-watched Cup Series race since Talladega in April. Not coincidentally, it was also the first race on broadcast television since Talladega.

The corresponding Xfinity Series race drew a 0.6 and 1.09 million on CW, up 35% and 33% respectively from last year on USA (0.46, 820K) and the largest audience for the race since 2018 on NBCSN.

The previous Saturday night at Richmond, the Cup Series drew a 0.75 and 1.4 million on USA Network — down sharply from last year, when the race was run on a Sunday night (2.22M).

Coverage of the US Open tennis tournament has averaged 710,000 viewers across the ESPN family of networks through the second round, up 29% from last year. That includes an average of 784,000 for the opening day of play last Sunday on ABC and ESPN2 (1.06M on ABC alone), up 78% from last year’s Monday start.

Coverage of the Little League Baseball tournament averaged 812,000 viewers across the ESPN family of networks, up 17% from last year, with the Little League World Series averaging 1.0 million (+2%).

Last Saturday’s United States Championship (Las Vegas-Fairfield, Conn.) was the most-watched game of the tournament with 2.8 million viewers, followed by the World Championship the following day at 2.4 million (Taiwan-Las Vegas). Both games were down from last year’s comparable audiences of 3.0 and 3.5 million respectively.

The International Championship (Taiwan-Aruba) drew 1.3 million.

Coverage of the 2025 BIG3 basketball season averaged 560,000 viewers on CBS, up 23% from last year (456K). Last weekend’s championship averaged 507,000.

NBC averaged 2.38 million viewers for coverage of the PGA TOUR this season, up 18% from last year. That is in line with the 17% increase CBS posted for its coverage, which averaged 2.97 million viewers.

The main portion of last weekend’s final round of the TOUR Championship, the final event of the PGA Tour FedEx Cup, averaged 4.5 million viewers on NBC (not including streaming viewership tracked by Adobe Analytics) — the second-largest audience for the tournament since 2018.

Only the main final round window two years ago averaged a larger audience (4.6M), and that was primarily because it aired in a later and shorter window due to inclement weather.

The full TOUR Championship averaged 2.0 million viewers, up 59% from last year and the highest since — of all years — 2020.

The prior week’s final round of the BMW Championship averaged 3.5 million viewers, up 43% from last year, with the full four-round average of 1.6 million up 30%.

This year’s NBA Finals Game 7 averaged a 31.9 rating in Oklahoma City and a 25.1 in Indianapolis, according to TVB. Tulsa ranked third at a 20.8, with Chicago and Cleveland as the top neutral markets with a 10.9. San Antonio (10.5), Milwaukee (10.2) and Minneapolis-St. Paul (10.1) rounded out the top eight.

Nationally, the June 22 contest had 7.6 rating and 16.6 million viewers on ABC.

WNBA regular season games on CBS averaged 1.17 million viewers, up 6% from last year’s eight-game slate and the network’s most-watched season. The network’s season finale, Liberty-Dream on Saturday, averaged 595,000.

The latest edition of the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry averaged 2.57 million viewers on ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball” over the weekend, marking the third-largest audience of the MLB season — behind only Yankees-Dodgers on ESPN June 1 (2.73M) and regional action featuring Red Sox-Yankees on FOX June 7 (3.0M).

The Yankees’ win, which peaked with 2.89 million viewers in the 8:15 PM ET quarter-hour, nearly doubled last year’s comparable Astros-Orioles game (1.31M).

Over on FOX, a Thursday night window featuring Yankees-Red Sox averaged a 1.3 rating and 2.33 million viewers — up from a 1.1 and 1.95 million last year.

Going back to the prior weekend, FOX averaged a 1.1 and 2.01 million (+17%) for its usual Saturday regional, while ESPN drew just shy of 1.7 million for the Mariners-Mets “Little League Classic” (-22%).

New York Yankees games on YES Network are averaging 292,000 viewers so far this season, up 5% from last year (277K). Nearly half of the games this season have averaged at least 300,000 viewers, compared to a third at the same point last year.

ABC averaged 1.43 million viewers for its 12-game schedule of regular season WNBA games, up 13% from an eight-game average of 1.26 million last season, and its most-watched regular season yet.

The double-digit increase over last year comes despite Fever G Caitlin Clark playing only three of her team’s five scheduled ABC games — but that still exceeded the two games she played on the network last season.

For more, see this article.

Regional WNBA action featuring Mystics-Fever in most markets averaged 1.04 million viewers on ION last Friday night, marking the fourth-largest audience of the season on the network. Viewership declined 15% from coverage featuring Mercury-Fever — and a healthy Caitlin Clark on the same night last year (1.22M).

The Fever have played in each of the top four ION games this season, with Clark missing three of those four — Friday’s game and Fever-Wings on August 1 and June 27 (both 1.14M). Clark’s lone appearance on ION ranks as the network’s top game this season, as 1.46 million watched the Fever host Atlanta on July 11.

Later in the night, Aces-Mercury averaged 517,000 — up 7% from Sun-Wings a year ago (485K). ION is averaging 622,000 viewers for WNBA games so far this season, down 3% from the same point last year 640K).

Saturday’s Liberty-Lynx WNBA Finals rematch averaged 793,000 viewers on CBS, up 25% from Lynx-Mystics on the network the same weekend last year. Viewership trailed the previous matchup between the teams a week earlier on ABC (977K).

CBS is averaging 1.23 million viewers for WNBA games this season, up 8% from a year ago.

Sunday’s Bears-Bills NFL preseason game averaged 5.1 million viewers on FOX, marking the network’s most-watched preseason game since it carried the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game in 2021.

Viewership increased 11% from the lone preseason game on FOX last year, Saints-49ers (4.6M).

NBC coverage of the PGA Tour St. Jude Championship from Memphis, the first event of the FedEx Cup Playoffs, averaged 3.8 million viewers last Sunday and 2.3 million last Saturday (Nielsen + Adobe Analytics) — the highest for the tournament, which traces back to old Westchester Classic rather than the Memphis-based St. Jude Classic, since 2013 and 2018 respectively.

Viewership increased 66 and 53 percent respectively from last year on CBS.

Lead-in coverage on Golf Channel averaged 843,000 on Sunday and 901,000 on Saturday, also marking multi-year highs.

The full tournament averaged 1.9 million viewers across NBC platforms, making it the most-watched since 2018. The weekend rounds on NBC and Golf Channel averaged 3.2 million, the highest since 2011. (In addition to the usual out-of-home viewing caveats, keep in mind that most of the prior year comparisons are Nielsen-only.)

Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race from Watkins Glen averaged a 1.0 rating and 1.85 million viewers on USA Network, up slightly from last year’s race, which aired in September opposite the NFL (1.81M). Compared to Richmond on the same August weekend last year, viewership fell 17%.

Shane Van Gisbergen’s win, which peaked with 2.0 million at the conclusion, ranks as the least-watched Cup Series race since rain-drenched Saturday night event from Atlanta in June (1.61M).

The corresponding Xfinity Series race averaged a 0.6 and 1.1 million on CW Saturday afternoon, up 40% from last year’s September edition on USA (778K) and the most-watched Xfinity race at the track since 2018. Connor Zilisch’s win, which was marred by his postrace fall in victory lane, peaked with 1.47 million in the 6:30 PM ET quarter-hour.