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 |
