The audience for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup is seeing a small dip at the halfway point this year. Through five races, ESPN/ABC is averaging a 2.7 U.S. rating and 4.3 million viewers, down from a 2.8 rating and 4.5 million viewers in ’11. The figures from last season exclude the Chase-opening race at Chicagoland Speedway, which was run on a Monday due to poor weather. Last Saturday’s Bank of America 500, the only Chase race scheduled for primetime and for ABC, finished with a 3.2 rating (5.1 million viewers), flat compared to the same race in '11 and '10 (Austin Karp, THE DAILY).
HIGHER EDUCATION: ESPN’s LSU-South Carolina matchup last Saturday night finished with a 3.7 U.S. rating and 6.0 million viewers, marking the net’s highest-rated and most-viewed regular-season college football telecast since a Thursday night LSU-Mississippi State matchup earned a 4.0 rating and 6.3 million viewers on September 15, 2011 (ESPN)….Following last Saturday afternoon’s Stanford-Notre Dame matchup, NBC is averaging 4.5 million viewers for Notre Dame football telecasts this season, the net’s best figure in six years. That viewership is also up 50% from 3.0 million viewers at the same point last season (Karp)….KOCO-ABC in Oklahoma City averaged a 34.4 local rating for the Oklahoma-Texas “Red River Rivalry” last Saturday, down from a 40.5 rating last year (OKLAHOMAN, 10/16).
NOTES: ESPN finished with 778,000 viewers for Game 2 of the Fever-Lynx WNBA Finals on Wednesday night, marking the most-watched WNBA playoff game on the net since ’99 (ESPN).
The charts below list final Nielsen ratings and viewership for recent sports telecasts. Figures for several telecasts on ABC and NBC were unavailable at presstime.
| TELECAST |
DATE
|
NET
|
TIME (ET)
|
RAT.
|
VIEWERS (000)
|
| "NFL on Fox": Giants-49ers (77%) |
10/13
|
Fox
|
4:15-7:30pm
|
13.7
|
22,800
|
"Sunday Night Football":
Packers-Texans |
10/13
|
NBC
|
8:31-11:10pm
|
11.8
|
19,922
|
| "NFL on CBS": (single) |
10/13
|
CBS
|
1:00-4:05pm
|
10.0
|
n/a
|
| "NFL on Fox": (regional) |
10/13
|
Fox
|
1:00-4:15pm
|
9.2
|
14,800
|
| "The OT" |
10/13
|
Fox
|
7:34-8:00pm
|
6.8
|
11,041
|
| "Football Night in America" |
10/13
|
NBC
|
7:30-8:15pm
|
5.3
|
8,854
|
| NLCS: Cardinals-Giants: Game 1 |
10/13
|
Fox
|
8:12-11:41pm
|
4.1
|
6,796
|
NCAA Football:
Stanford-Notre Dame |
10/12
|
NBC
|
3:30-7:00pm
|
3.3
|
5,200
|
NASCAR Sprint Cup:
Bank of America 500 (Charlotte) |
10/12
|
ABC
|
7:30-11:21pm
|
3.2
|
5,095
|
| NCAA Football: Alabama-Missouri |
10/12
|
CBS
|
3:30-7:00pm
|
2.3
|
n/a
|
| "The NFL Today" |
10/13
|
CBS
|
12:00-1:00pm
|
2.0
|
n/a
|
| NCAA Football: USC-Washington |
10/12
|
Fox
|
7:06-10:22pm
|
1.6
|
2,508
|
FIFA World Cup Qualifier:
Guyana-Mexico |
10/11
|
Telem.
|
8:50-11:01pm
|
1.1
|
2,107
|
| NCAA Football: Utah-UCLA |
10/12
|
Fox
|
3:00-6:30pm
|
0.6
|
8,700
|
| "College Football Today" |
10/12
|
CBS
|
3:00-3:30pm
|
0.5
|
n/a
|
| "College Football Uncut -- Auburn" |
10/12
|
CBS
|
2:00-2:30pm
|
0.4
|
n/a
|
| "College Football Uncut -- South Carolina" |
10/12
|
CBS
|
2:30-3:00pm
|
0.4
|
n/a
|
Liga MX:
Chivas de Guadalajara-Jaguares |
10/13
|
Telem.
|
5:55-8:00pm
|
0.4
|
760
|
| TELECAST |
DATE
|
NET
|
TIME (ET)
|
RAT.
|
VIEWERS (000)
|
| "Monday Night Football": Texans-Jets |
10/8
|
ESPN
|
8:30-11:44pm
|
9.0
|
14,047
|
| ALCS: Tigers-Yankees: Game 1 |
10/13
|
TBS
|
8:00pm-1:06am
|
4.2
|
6,847
|
| NCAA Football: South Carolina-LSU |
10/13
|
ESPN
|
7:59-11:33pm
|
3.7
|
5,978
|
| NLDS: Cardinals-Nationals: Game 5 |
10/12
|
TBS
|
8:30pm-12:37am
|
3.7
|
5,908
|
| ALDS: Yankees-Orioles: Game 3 |
10/10
|
TBS
|
7:44-11:20pm
|
3.9
|
5,777
|
"Thursday Night Football":
Steelers-Titans |
10/11
|
NFLN
|
8:30-11:49pm
|
3.6
|
5,651
|
| ALDS: Yankees-Orioles: Game 4 |
10/11
|
TBS
|
7:30pm-12:16am
|
3.5
|
5,155
|
| ALDS: Yankees-Orioles: Game 5 |
10/12
|
TBS
|
5:00-8:12pm
|
3.5
|
5,066
|
| ALCS: Tigers-Yankees: Game 2 |
10/14
|
TBS
|
4:00-7:31pm
|
3.1
|
5,040
|
| ALDS: Yankees-Orioles: Game 2 |
10/8
|
TBS
|
8:37pm-12:07am
|
2.8
|
4,222
|
