Final Ratings: NHL Stays Strong On NBC Sports Net; UFC Sets Record On Fuel TV

NBC Sports Network finished with 813,000 viewers last Sunday night for Canadiens-Bruins, marking the net’s fifth-best NHL regular-season audience yet. The telecast also was the net’s best Sunday night regular-season audience on record and best for a telecast involving a team from Canada on cable TV in 13 years. Meanwhile, the net averaged 720,000 viewers for Avalanche-Blackhawks on Wednesday night, marking the net’s ninth-best NHL regular-season telecast. The net has now seen six of its top 10 most-viewed NHL regular-season telecasts air this season. The game, which extended the Blackhawks’ record-setting point streak to start a season, earned a 7.0 local rating in Chicago, marking the net’s best rating ever in the market for an NHL regular-season game. Meanwhile, NBC drew 1.9 million viewers for Blackhawks-Red Wings last Sunday, marking the net’s best audience ever for a non-regionalized, non-Winter Classic NHL regular-season game.

 

MOST-VIEWED NHL REGULAR-SEASON TELECASTS ON NBC SPORTS NET
DATE	GAME	VIEWERS (000)
1/23/13	Bruins-Rangers	956
2/20/13	Flyers-Penguins	901
10/6/11	Flyers-Bruins	874
1/30/13	Blackhawks-Wild	827
3/3/13	Canadiens-Bruins	813

FIGHT FOR THE RIGHT: “UFC on Fuel TV 8” averaged 485,000 viewers from 10:00pm-1:12am ET last Saturday for a fight card featuring Wanderlei Silva-Brian Stann, marking the net’s most-viewed telecast. The audience was up 90% from the net’s previous record, set during prelims for “UFC on FX 7” on Jan. 19. The previous “UFC on Fuel TV” record was 217,000 viewers for the first iteration on February 15, 2012. Last Saturday’s telecast also delivered Fuel TV its best total-day and primetime average. The net’s pre-fight and post-fight shows saw record audiences as well.

"UFC ON FUEL TV" AUDIENCE TREND
TELECAST	DAY	DATE	START	VIEWERS (000)
1	Wed.	2/15/12	8:00pm	217
2	Sat.	4/14/12	3:00pm	197
3	Tues.	5/15/12	8:00pm	173
4	Wed.	7/11/12	8:00pm	211
5	Sat.	9/29/12	10:00pm	140
6	Sat.	11/10/12	7:00pm	143
7	Sat.	2/16/13	3:00pm	195
8	Sat.	3/2/13	10:00pm	485

NOTES: Fox finished with a 5.6 rating and 9.1 million viewers for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series telecast from Phoenix last Sunday. While the rating was flat, viewership was down from 9.2 million viewers for the same race last season….ESPN earned 780,000 viewers for the UConn-Notre Dame women’s basketball telecast on Monday, marking the net’s second-best women’s game this season, behind only Baylor-UConn with 982,000 viewers on Feb. 18….Fox Soccer averaged 520,000 viewers for the second leg of the Real Madrid-Manchester United UEFA Champions League Round of 16 match on Tuesday, marking the net’s most-viewed Champions League match and most-viewed weekday telecast of any kind. The game was the third-best audience all-time for the net. Another 582,000 viewers tuned in for the game on Fox Deportes.

The charts below list final Nielsen ratings from recent sports telecasts.

TELECAST	DATE	NET	TIME (ET)	RAT.	VIEWERS (000)
NASCAR Sprint Cup: Phoenix	3/3	Fox	3:30-6:30pm	5.6	9,100
NBA: Heat-Knicks	3/3	ABC	12:56-3:37pm	2.8	4,086
NBA: Thunder-Clippers	3/3	ABC	3:37-6:30pm	2.8	4,228
PGA Tour: Honda Classic: Final Round	3/3	NBC	3:15-6:00pm	2.0	2,820
NCAA Basketball: Michigan State-Michigan	3/3	CBS	4:00-6:15pm	1.8	n/a
PGA Tour: Honda Classic: Third Round	3/2	NBC	3:00-6:00pm	1.6	2,170
NCAA Basketball: Kentucky-Arkansas	3/2	CBS	4:15-6:30pm	1.5	n/a
NHL: Blackhawks-Red Wings	3/3	NBC	12:30-3:15pm	1.3	1,900
NCAA Basketball: Louisville-Syracuse	3/2	CBS	12:00-2:15pm	1.2	n/a
NCAA Basketball: West Virginia-Kansas	3/2	CBS	2:15-4:15pm	1.2	n/a
"NBA Countdown"	3/3	ABC	12:30-12:56pm	1.0	n/a
PBR: Dickies Iron Cowboy IV	3/3	CBS	1:00-2:00pm	0.9	n/a
Gymnastics: AT&T American Cup	3/2	NBC	1:00-3:00pm	0.8	1,140
NCAA Basketball: FSU-North Carolina	3/3	CBS	2:00-4:00pm	0.8	n/a
Liga MX: Club America-Cruz Azul	3/2	Univ.	5:55-8:00pm	0.7	1,282
AMA Supercross	3/3	CBS	12:00-1:00pm	0.7	n/a
"ESPN Sports Saturday"	3/2	ABC	4:00-6:00pm	0.5	n/a
TELECAST	DATE	NET	TIME (ET)	RAT.	VIEWERS (000)
NCAA Basketball: Miami-Duke	3/2	ESPN	6:10-8:18pm	2.2	3,416
NCAA Basketball: Indiana-Minnesota	2/26	ESPN	7:00-9:23pm	1.5	2,221
NASCAR Nationwide Series: Phoenix	3/2	ESPN2	4:30-7:01pm	1.4	2,054
NBA: Mavericks-Nets	3/1	ESPN	8:05-10:47pm	1.4	2,002
NBA: Thunder-Nuggets	3/1	ESPN	10:47pm-1:17am	1.4	1,988
"College GameDay"	3/2	ESPN	8:18-9:00pm	1.2	1,978
NCAA Basketball: Kansas-Iowa State	2/25	ESPN	9:10-11:35pm	1.2	1,778
NCAA Basketball: Duke-Virginia	2/28	ESPN	9:03-11:06pm	1.2	1,754
NBA: T'Wolves-Lakers	2/28	TNT	10:43pm-1:14am	1.2	1,681
NBA: Bulls-Pacers	3/3	ESPN	8:00-10:37pm	1.1	1,665