The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Goody's Fast Pain Relief 500 from Martinsville was the most-viewed sports telecast last weekend behind the men's Final Four. The race's 4.4 rating and 7.229 million viewers are down from a 4.6 rating and 7.373 million viewers in '09. Last year's race was rained out and run on a Monday. Through six races, Fox is averaging a 5.8 rating and 10.082 million viewers. While that rating is flat compared to the comparable five races at this point last season, viewership is up 4%.
FIRST PITCH: Fox earned a 2.0 final rating last Saturday for its first regional telecast of the season, which featured Tigers-Yankees in 59% of markets. That rating is up 25% from a 1.6 for last year's first MLB regional telecast on the net.
PHIL 'ER UP: CBS earned a 2.4 final rating for the final round of the PGA Tour Shell Houston Open last Sunday, which saw Phil Mickelson win by three strokes over Scott Verplank and Chris Kirk. That figure is up 20% from a 2.0 rating for the final round last year, which saw Anthony Kim defeat Vaughn Taylor in a playoff. Mickelson finished tied for 35th last year.
HARD PICK: ABC's NBA doubleheader last Sunday saw a ratings drop compared to the same weekend in '10. The net's Suns-Spurs telecast in the early window earned a 1.3 rating, down 38% from a 2.1 for the comparable Cavaliers-Celtics game last year. In the late window, Nuggets-Lakers earned a 2.5 rating, flat compared to Spurs-Lakers last year.
WELCOME TO MIAMI: CBS earned a 1.0 final rating for the Novak Djokovic-Rafael Nadal final at the Sony Ericsson Open last Sunday, up from a 0.7 rating for the Andy Roddick-Tomas Berdych final last year. On Saturday, CBS earned a 0.7 rating for Victoria Azarenka's victory over Maria Sharapova, up slightly from a 0.6 rating for the Kim Clijsters-Venus Williams finale in '10.
The charts below list final Nielsen ratings from recent sports telecasts on broadcast and cable TV (Austin Karp, THE DAILY).
| TELECAST |
DATE |
NET |
TIME (ET) |
RAT. |
VIEWERS (000) |
NCAA Tournament: Final Four:
UConn-Kentucky |
4/2 |
CBS |
8:57-11:16pm |
9.5 |
16,715 |
NCAA Tournament: Final Four:
Butler-VCU |
4/2 |
CBS |
5:55-8:30pm |
8.3 |
14,189 |
NASCAR Sprint Cup:
Goody's Fast Pain Relief 500 |
4/3 |
Fox |
1:30-5:21pm |
4.4 |
7,229 |
| NBA: Nuggets-Lakers |
4/3 |
ABC |
3:25-6:14pm |
2.5 |
4,050 |
PGA Tour: Shell Houston Open:
Final Round |
4/3 |
NBC |
3:24-6:00pm |
2.4 |
3,669 |
| MLB: (regional) |
4/2 |
Fox |
4:08-7:00pm |
2.0 |
3,157 |
PGA Tour: Shell Houston Open:
Third Round |
4/2 |
NBC |
3:00-6:00pm |
1.5 |
2,081 |
| NBA: Suns-Spurs |
4/3 |
ABC |
12:56-3:25pm |
1.3 |
1,992 |
Tennis: Sony Ericsson Open:
Men's Final: Djokovic d. Nadal |
4/3 |
CBS |
1:00-4:36pm |
1.0 |
1,509 |
| Monster Energy AMA Supercross |
4/3 |
CBS |
12:00-1:00pm |
0.7 |
1,058 |
| NHL: Rangers-Flyers |
4/3 |
NBC |
12:30-3:24pm |
0.7 |
999 |
National High School Slam Dunk
& 3-Point Championships |
4/3 |
CBS |
5:36-6:00pm |
0.7 |
958 |
Tennis: Sony Ericsson Open:
Women's Final: Azarenka d. Sharapova |
4/2 |
CBS |
12:30-3:00pm |
0.7 |
914 |
| "NBA Countdown" |
4/3 |
ABC |
12:30-12:56pm |
0.7 |
n/a |
| "ESPN Sports Saturday" |
4/2 |
ABC |
4:00-6:00pm |
0.5 |
n/a |
| Papa John's Dunks of the Year |
4/3 |
CBS |
4:36-5:36pm |
0.5 |
n/a |
Showtime Boxing: Fight Camp 360:
Pacquaio vs. Mosley |
4/2 |
CBS |
12:00-12:30pm |
0.4 |
n/a |
| TELECAST |
DATE |
NET |
TIME (ET) |
RAT. |
VIEWERS (000) |
NCAA Women's Tournament:
Final Four: Notre Dame-UConn |
4/3 |
ESPN |
9:49-11:53pm |
2.1 |
3273 |
| NBA: Mavericks-Lakers |
3/31 |
TNT |
10:44pm-1:27am |
1.9 |
2958 |
| NBA: Celtics-Spurs |
3/31 |
TNT |
8:16-10:44pm |
1.7 |
2767 |
NCAA Women's Tournament:
Final Four: Texas A&M-Stanford |
4/3 |
ESPN |
7:00-9:25pm |
1.6 |
2532 |
| NBA: Lakers-Jazz |
4/1 |
ESPN |
10:38pm-1:03am |
1.5 |
2400 |
| MLB: Giants-Dodgers |
3/31 |
ESPN |
8:00-11:08pm |
1.5 |
2325 |
| NBA: Celtics-Hawks |
4/1 |
ESPN |
8:06-10:38pm |
1.4 |
2126 |
| MLB: Giants-Dodgers |
4/3 |
ESPN2 |
7:59-11:14pm |
1.2 |
1995 |
NCAA Women's Tournament:
Regional Final: Notre Dame-Tennessee |
3/28 |
ESPN |
7:00-9:16pm |
1.2 |
1753 |
NCAA Women's Tournament:
Regional Final: Texas A&M-Baylor |
3/29 |
ESPN |
9:05-11:17pm |
1.1 |
1689 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
BELTWAY BALL: In DC, Dan Steinberg reported MASN earned a 2.71 local rating in DC for the Nationals' season opener against the Braves last Thursday, "about 65 percent higher than the Opening Day ratings in 2010." Through three games, "all against the Braves, two in the afternoon," the Nationals "were averaging a 2.43 rating in the DC market, good for about 58,000 households," up 96% from the first three games last year. Meanwhile, MASN earned a 12.0 local rating in Baltimore for the Orioles' season opener last Friday against the Rays. MASN averaged a 7.7 local rating in Baltimore for the Orioles' first four games. Orioles ratings in DC are "strong, but behind the Nats." MASN earned a 1.34 in DC for the Orioles' opener, and the first four games averaged a 1.6 (
WASHINGTONPOST.com, 4/6).
NOTES: ESPN averaged 1.878 million viewers for the NCAA women's basketball tournament, up 16% from 1.629 million last year. Tuesday's Texas A&M-Notre Dame national championship game earned a 2.4 U.S. rating and 3.831 million viewers, up 4.3% and 8.5%, respectively, from last year's title game between UConn and Stanford (THE DAILY)....Rogers Sportsnet Ontario drew 914,000 viewers for Tuesday's Maple Leafs-Capitals game, Rogers' second-highest regional hockey audience this season (Rogers).
