Fox’ NASCAR Sprint Cup coverage and NBC’s coverage of the final round of the WGC-Cadillac Championship led overnight Nielsen ratings for weekend sports telecasts. NBC earned a 4.4 overnight for yesterday’s final round from Doral, which saw Tiger Woods win for the seventh time at the event. The overnight for the final round is the best for the Doral event since ’06, when Woods also won (5.0 overnight). This year’s final round is up 42% from a 3.1 last year, which saw Justin Rose hold off Bubba Watson and Rory McIlroy (Woods withdrew after the third round). NBC also saw its best WGC-Cadillac Championship third-round overnight since '06. Golf Channel was a beneficiary of Woods’ wire-to-wire win, as Friday marked the net’s best rating for second round of the event on record (dating back to ’95). Meanwhile, Fox also earned a 4.4 overnight for its coverage of the Kobalt Tools 400 from Las Vegas Motor Speedway. That figure is down 4% from the Sprint Cup race at the track last year. ESPN also saw a slide for the Nationwide Series race from LVMS on Saturday (1.3 vs. 1.4).
Listed below are overnight Nielsen ratings from the weekend on broadcast TV.
| TELECAST |
DATE
|
NET
|
TIME (ET)
|
RAT.
|
| "ESPN Sports Saturday" |
3/9
|
ABC
|
4:00-6:00pm
|
0.5
|
| NCAA Basketball: Florida-Kentucky |
3/9
|
CBS
|
12:00-2:15pm
|
1.2
|
| NCAA Basketball: UCLA-Washington |
3/9
|
CBS
|
2:15-4:15pm
|
0.9
|
| NCAA Basketball: Notre Dame-Louisville |
3/9
|
CBS
|
4:15-6:15pm
|
1.2
|
| Skiing: Sprint U.S. Grand Prix |
3/9
|
NBC
|
12:30-1:30pm
|
0.5
|
| "Golf Central Live" |
3/9
|
NBC
|
1:30-2:00pm
|
0.5
|
| WGC: Cadillac Championship: Third Round |
3/9
|
NBC
|
2:00-6:00pm
|
3.0
|
| NBA: Celtics-Thunder |
3/10
|
ABC
|
1:00-3:45pm
|
2.7
|
| NBA: Bulls-Lakers |
3/10
|
ABC
|
3:45-6:15pm
|
3.5
|
| NCAA Basketball: VCU-Temple |
3/10
|
CBS
|
12:00-2:15pm
|
0.9
|
NCAA Basketball: MVC Championship:
Creighton-Wichita State |
3/10
|
CBS
|
2:15-4:30pm
|
1.0
|
| NCAA Basketball: Indiana-Michigan |
3/10
|
CBS
|
4:30-6:15pm
|
2.2
|
| NASCAR Sprint Cup: Las Vegas |
3/10
|
Fox
|
3:15-6:15pm
|
4.4
|
| NHL: Rangers-Capitals |
3/10
|
NBC
|
12:30-3:00pm
|
0.8
|
| WGC: Cadillac Championship: Final Round |
3/10
|
NBC
|
3:00-7:00pm
|
4.4
|
