ABC earned a 3.7 rating and 5.9 million viewers for its telecast of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Irwin Tools Night Race last Saturday, marking ABC/ESPN’s most-viewed summer race at Bristol Motor Speedway since the net acquired rights to the racing series. The mark was set despite the telecast being preempted for NFL preseason coverage in Buffalo, Detroit, Rochester and Tulsa, while Miami-Ft. Lauderdale was preempted for Hurricane Isaac coverage. Last year’s race earned a 2.9 rating and 5.1 million viewers and was not shown in many markets on ABC due to coverage of Hurricane Irene and NFL preseason games (ABC).
PLAYOFF PAYOFF: Golf Channel finished with 1.3 million combined viewers for its live and replay telecasts of the second round of The Barclays PGA Tour event last Friday, marking the most-viewed early round for the event in 17 years, dating back to when the tourney aired on USA Network. The telecast also marked the most-viewed early round for a FedExCup Playoff event on the net since the second round of the Tour Championship in ’09. GC also averaged a combined 849,000 viewers for its live and replay windows of the first round, marking the best opening round since the tourney became a FedExCup Playoff event in ’07 and the best for The Barclays since ’97 (Golf Channel).
NOTES: HBO averaged a 0.6 U.S. rating and 890,000 viewers for the fourth episode of “Hard Knocks” featuring the Dolphins, marking the second-best audience for the series this season. It also marks the fourth-best audience for “Hard Knocks” since ’02, behind two episodes from’10 (featuring Jets) and the second episode this season (HBO)….YES Network averaged 527,000 viewers for the Blue Jays-Yankees telecast on Monday, marking the best Yankees game audience this season on the net. The previous high was 447,000 viewers for a matchup against the Rangers on April 24 (TWITTER.com, 8/28)….NBC Sports Network has averaged 23,000 viewers through the first two episodes of its MLB behind-the-scenes series “Caught Looking.” The premiere on Aug. 5 averaged 31,000 viewers, and the second episode on Aug. 23 dropped to 14,000 viewers (THE DAILY).
The charts below list final Nielsen ratings from recent sports telecasts. All ratings listed are U.S. ratings.
| TELECAST |
DATE
|
NET
|
TIME (ET)
|
RAT.
|
VIEWERS (000)
|
| NFL Preseason: Panthers-Jets |
8/24
|
NBC
|
8:07-11:05pm
|
6.2
|
9,819
|
| NFL Preseason: 49ers-Broncos |
8/24
|
Fox
|
4:15-7:30pm
|
4.5
|
7,100
|
NASCAR Sprint Cup:
Irwin Tools Night Race (Bristol) |
8/23
|
ABC
|
7:30-11:12pm
|
3.7
|
5,905
|
| NFL Preseason: Bears-Giants |
8/22
|
CBS
|
8:00-11:19pm
|
3.3
|
5,153
|
| NFL Preseason: Texans-Saints |
8/23
|
CBS
|
8:00-11:21pm
|
3.2
|
5,125
|
PGA Tour: FedCup Playoffs:
The Barclays: Final Round |
8/24
|
CBS
|
2:00-6:00pm
|
2.5
|
n/a
|
| "NASCAR Countdown" |
8/23
|
ABC
|
7:06-7:30pm
|
2.4
|
n/a
|
LLWS: U.S. Championship:
Goodlettsville, Tenn.-Petaluma, Calif. |
8/23
|
ABC
|
3:33-7:06pm
|
2.1
|
n/a
|
PGA Tour: FedCup Playoffs:
The Barclays: Third Round |
8/23
|
CBS
|
3:15-6:00pm
|
1.9
|
n/a
|
LLWS: World Championship:
Japan-Goodlettsville, Tenn. |
8/24
|
ABC
|
3:00-5:30pm
|
1.9
|
n/a
|
"Madden NFL 13" Pigskin
Pro-Am (taped) |
8/24
|
NBC
|
7:00-8:00pm
|
1.6
|
n/a
|
| MLB: (regional) |
8/23
|
Fox
|
4:00-7:15pm
|
1.4
|
2,100
|
LLWS: Int'l Championship:
Japan-Panama |
8/23
|
ABC
|
12:30-3:33pm
|
1.3
|
n/a
|
| Horse Racing: Travers Stakes |
8/23
|
NBC
|
4:00-6:00pm
|
0.7
|
n/a
|
| "U.S. Open Preview" |
8/24
|
CBS
|
1:00-2:00pm
|
0.7
|
n/a
|
| U.S. Open: Arthur Ashe Kids' Day |
8/24
|
CBS
|
12:30-1:00pm
|
0.6
|
n/a
|
| Sailing: America's Cup World Series |
8/24
|
NBC
|
2:30-4:00pm
|
0.6
|
n/a
|
| Liga MX: Club America-Tijuana |
8/25
|
Univ.
|
5:55-8:02pm
|
0.5
|
1,031
|
ATP World Tour: Winston-Salem
Open: Isner d. Berdych |
8/23
|
CBS
|
12:30-3:15pm
|
0.5
|
n/a
|
Liga MX: Chivas de Guadalajara-
Monterrey |
8/26
|
Telem.
|
5:55-8:03pm
|
0.4
|
751
|
| USA Pro Cycling Challenge |
8/23
|
NBC
|
2:00-4:00pm
|
0.4
|
n/a
|
| USA Pro Cycling Challenge |
8/24
|
NBC
|
4:00-6:00pm
|
0.4
|
n/a
|
| TELECAST |
DATE
|
NET
|
TIME (ET)
|
RAT.
|
VIEWERS (000)
|
| NFL Preseason: Eagles-Patriots |
8/20
|
ESPN
|
8:00-11:22pm
|
3.3
|
5,066
|
| NFL Preseason: Cardinals-Titans |
8/23
|
ESPN
|
8:00-11:36pm
|
2.3
|
3,362
|
| LLWS: Goodlettsville, Tenn.-San Antonio, Texas |
8/22
|
ESPN
|
8:00-10:30pm
|
1.1
|
1,793
|
NASCAR Nationwide Series:
Food City 250 |
8/24
|
ESPN
|
7:33-10:11pm
|
1.1
|
1,600
|
| "Monday Night Countdown" |
8/20
|
ESPN
|
7:00-8:00pm
|
1.0
|
1,433
|
| MLB: Braves-Giants |
8/26
|
ESPN
|
7:58-11:05pm
|
1.0
|
1,413
|
| NFL Preseason: Colts-Redskins |
8/25
|
NFLN
|
4:00-7:21pm
|
0.9
|
1,313
|
| LLWS: Petaluma, Calif.-Fairfield, Conn. |
8/21
|
ESPN2
|
8:00-9:52pm
|
0.9
|
1,281
|
LLWS: Petaluma, Calif.-
San Antonio, Calif. |
8/23
|
ESPN2
|
8:00-9:46pm
|
0.8
|
1,251
|
| LLWS: Petaluma, Calif.-Parsippany, N.J. |
8/20
|
ESPN
|
4:37-6:41pm
|
0.9
|
1,168
|
