ABC earned a 3.7 final Nielsen rating and 6.167 million viewers for last Saturday night’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Wonderful Pistachios 400 from Richmond Int’l Raceway, which was the final race before the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Those figures are up 19.4% and 16.6%, respectively, from the same race last year. Heading into the Chase, Sprint Cup telecasts (excluding rainouts) across Fox, TNT, ESPN and ABC have averaged a 4.2 rating and 7.052 million viewers, up 7.7% and 9.6%, respectively, from a 3.9 rating and 6.432 million viewers at the same point last year (Austin Karp, THE DAILY).
NOTES: The Panthers-Cardinals game last Sunday averaged 425,000 HHs in Phoenix on KSAZ-Fox, making it the most-viewed program in the market for the week ending Sept. 11 (BIZJOURNALS.com, 9/14)….The Patriots-Dolphins “MNF” game finished with a combined 21.6 local rating in Miami-Ft. Lauderdale across ESPN on cable and WSFL-CW. The local rating is “higher than Miami’s 18.3 average last season and 19.5 the previous two.” However, 28 teams drew higher local ratings than the Dolphins did last weekend (MIAMI HERALD, 9/15)….Blue Jays game telecasts through August on Rogers Sportsnet were up 22% among adults 18-34 and up 19% among men in that demo. Overall, Blue Jays ratings were up 19% with an average audience of 508,000 viewers (Rogers Sportsnet).
Listed below are final Nielsen ratings from recent sports telecasts. All ratings listed are U.S. ratings.
| TELECAST | DATE | NET | TIME (ET) | RAT. | VIEWERS (000) |
| "NFL on Fox": Giants-Redskins (63%) | 9/11 | Fox | 4:27-7:52pm | 15.3 | 25,802 |
| "Sunday Night Football": Cowboys-Jets | 9/11 | NBC | 8:33-11:44pm | 15.3 | 25,766 |
| "NFL on CBS": (singleheader) | 9/11 | CBS | 1:05-4:00pm | 9.1 | 15,496 |
| "NFL on Fox": (regional) | 9/11 | Fox | 1:05-4:27pm | 8.0 | 13,044 |
| "Football Night in America" | 9/11 | NBC | 7:30-8:15pm | 6.5 | 10,560 |
| "Fox NFL Sunday" | 9/11 | Fox | 12:00-1:00pm | 3.8 | n/a |
NASCAR Sprint Cup:
Wonderful Pistachios 400 | 9/10 | ABC | 7:30-11:15pm | 3.7 | 6,167 |
| NCAA Football: Alabama-Penn State | 9/10 | ABC | 3:29-7:01pm | 3.9 | 6,083 |
U.S. Open: Women's Final:
Stosur-Williams | 9/11 | CBS | 4:30-6:36pm | 3.3 | 4,927 |
| "The NFL Today" | 9/11 | CBS | 12:00-1:00pm | 3.1 | n/a |
| US Open: Women's Semifinal: Williams-Wozniacki | 9/10 | CBS | 9:51-11:44pm | 2.3 | 3,523 |
| "NASCAR Countdown" | 9/10 | ABC | 7:01-7:30pm | 2.3 | n/a |
| U.S. Open: Men's Semifinals | 9/10 | CBS | 12:00-9:16pm | 1.8 | 2,659 |
| U.S. Open: Men's Quarterfinals | 9/9 | CBS | 12:30-6:40pm | 1.4 | 1,871 |
| MLB: (regional) | 9/10 | Fox | 4:08-7:08pm | 1.1 | 1,632 |
NFL Kickoff 2011:
Back to Football (taped) | 9/10 | NBC | 8:00-9:00pm | 1.1 | 1,622 |
| "College Football Countdown" | 9/10 | ABC | 3:00-3:29pm | 0.8 | n/a |
Diamond League
Track & Field (taped) | 9/10 | NBC | 3:00-4:00pm | 0.7 | 1,001 |
Rugby World Cup:
U.S.-Ireland (taped) | 9/11 | NBC | 1:00-4:00pm | 0.5 | 866 |
| Dew Tour: Toyota Challenge | 9/10 | NBC | 4:30-6:00pm | 0.5 | 841 |
| Dew Tour: Toyota Challenge | 9/11 | NBC | 4:30-6:00pm | 0.5 | 824 |
| "Dew Tour Countdown" | 9/10 | NBC | 4:00-4:30pm | 0.5 | n/a |
| "Dew Tour Countdown" | 9/11 | NBC | 4:00-4:30pm | 0.4 | n/a |
| World of Adventure Sports (taped) | 9/10 | NBC | 2:00-3:00pm | 0.4 | n/a |
| TELECAST | DATE | NET | TIME (ET) | RAT. | VIEWERS (000) |
NCAA Football:
Notre Dame-Michigan | 9/10 | ESPN | 8:17-11:44pm | 4.5 | 7,541 |
| NCAA Football: Miami-Maryland | 9/5 | ESPN | 7:55-11:17pm | 2.9 | 4,395 |
NCAA Football:
South Carolina-Georgia | 9/10 | ESPN | 4:26-8:17pm | 2.4 | 3,949 |
NCAA Football:
Missouri-Arizona State | 9/9 | ESPN | 10:30pm-2:08am | 1.7 | 2,536 |
| "Sunday NFL Countdown" | 9/11 | ESPN | 10:00am-1:01pm | 1.5 | 2,414 |
NASCAR Sprint Cup:
AdvoCare 500 (Atlanta) | 9/6 | ESPN | 11:00am-4:00pm | 1.5 | 2,161 |
| NCAA Football: BYU-Texas | 9/10 | ESPN2 | 7:00-10:16pm | 1.3 | 2,096 |
NCAA Football:
Oregon State-Wisconsin | 9/10 | ESPN | 12:01-3:02pm | 1.6 | 2,045 |
| "College GameDay" | 9/10 | ESPN | 10:00am-12:01pm | 1.4 | 2,012 |
NASCAR Nationwide Series:
Virginia 529 College Savings 250 | 9/9 | ESPN2 | 7:30-10:00pm | 1.1 | 1,661 |
