The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 from Charlotte Motor Speedway finished with a 4.1 rating and 6.96 million viewers last Sunday night, marking the most-viewed sports telecast of Memorial Day weekend. The race earned Fox a win in primetime on Sunday as well. Last year’s race earned a 4.3 rating and 7.13 million viewers. Meanwhile, the Indianapolis 500 finished with a 3.9 rating and 6.20 million viewers last Sunday afternoon, up from a 3.7 rating and 5.74 million viewers last year, but still the third-lowest audience for the race on record. The low mark for the event remains ’10 with a 3.6 rating and 5.78 million viewers. ABC also saw an 8% bump among males 18-49 for this year’s race. The racing on Sunday began with the F1 Monaco Grand Prix, which drew a 0.9 rating and 1.30 million viewers on NBC for the live telecast from 8:00-10:00am ET. While the rating is flat, viewership is down from 1.46 million viewers last year.
|
VIEWERSHIP FOR MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND'S AUTO RACING TRIPLEHEADER
|
|
YEAR
|
F1 MONACO
GRAND PRIX (000)*
|
INDIANAPOLIS 500
ON ABC (000)
|
NASCAR COCA-COLA 600
ON FOX (000)
|
|
'14
|
1,300
|
6,200
|
6,956
|
|
'13
|
1,456
|
5,735
|
7,134
|
|
'12
|
427
|
6,800
|
7,405
|
|
'11
|
627
|
6,711
|
8,132
|
|
'10
|
480
|
5,779
|
6,547
|
| |
|
|
|
CHART NOTE: * = Monaco GP aired on NBC in '14 and '13 and on Speed from '10-12.
UNDER THE LIGHTS: Fox finished with a 1.2 rating and 1.83 million viewers for the net’s first MLB telecast of the season. The broadcast net has only a limited number of telecasts this season under a new MLB TV rights deal. Saturday night’s regional telecast, which featured Cardinals-Reds as the high coverage game, is down from a 1.5 rating and 2.25 million viewers for the net’s first MLB primetime telecast on the same weekend last season, which featured Cardinals-Dodgers. The first primetime telecast in ’12 -- Red Sox-Phillies -- drew a 1.9 rating and 2.91 million viewers. Meanwhile, FS1 is averaging 458,000 viewers for its first season of MLB telecasts. The cable net’s high mark for MLB was the April 19 Angels-Tigers afternoon matchup (668,000 viewers).
SPANISH CONQUEST: Real Madrid’s comeback win in the UEFA Champions League final against Atletico Madrid last Saturday afternoon finished with a 1.1 rating and 1.92 million viewers on Fox, up from a 0.9 rating and 1.40 million viewers for Bayern Munich-Dortmund last season. Meanwhile, on Fox Deportes, the ’14 final delivered 1.22 million viewers, marking the Spanish-language net’s third-best soccer match audience ever. Champions League coverage on Fox Deportes in ’13-14 was the net’s best on record, breaking the mark set last season.
The chart below lists final ratings from recent sports telecasts.
| TELECAST |
DATE
|
NET
|
TIME (ET)
|
RAT.
|
VIEWERS
(000)
|
| NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Coca-Cola 600 (Charlotte) |
5/25
|
Fox
|
6:23-10:32pm
|
4.1
|
6,956
|
| Verizon IndyCar Series: Indianapolis 500 |
5/25
|
ABC
|
12:14-3:43pm
|
3.9
|
6,200
|
| "Indianapolis 500 Pre-Race" |
5/25
|
ABC
|
11:00am-12:14pm
|
1.9
|
2,797
|
| NHL Western Conference Finals: Blackhawks-Kings: Game 3 |
5/24
|
NBC
|
8:00-11:00pm
|
1.4
|
2,431
|
| NASCAR Nationwide Series: History 300 (Charlotte) |
5/24
|
ABC
|
2:49-5:30pm
|
1.3
|
1,969
|
| UEFA Champions League final: Real Madrid-Atletico Madrid |
5/24
|
Fox
|
2:45-5:30pm
|
1.1
|
1,924
|
| PGA Tour: Crowne Plaza Invitational: Final Round |
5/25
|
CBS
|
3:00-6:00pm
|
1.3
|
1,840
|
| MLB: (regional) |
5/24
|
Fox
|
7:12-10:47pm
|
1.2
|
1,830
|
| World of X Games: ASP Surfing |
5/25
|
ABC
|
3:43-4:43pm
|
1.0
|
1,754
|
| "ESPN Sports Saturday" |
5/24
|
ABC
|
5:30-6:00pm
|
0.9
|
1,341
|
| F1: Grand Prix of Monaco |
5/25
|
NBC
|
8:00-10:00am
|
0.9
|
1,300
|
| PGA Tour: Crowne Plaza Invitational: Third Round |
5/24
|
CBS
|
3:00-6:00pm
|
0.7
|
1,030
|
| "Inside U.S. Soccer's March to Brazil" |
5/24
|
ABC
|
2:00-2:30pm
|
0.5
|
710
|
| French Open: First Round |
5/25
|
NBC
|
12:00-3:00pm
|
0.5
|
641
|
| Senior PGA Championship: Final Round |
5/25
|
NBC
|
3:00-6:00pm
|
0.4
|
595
|
| Global Rallycross: Barbados |
5/24
|
NBC
|
1:00-2:00pm
|
0.4
|
530
|
| Senior PGA Championship: Third Round |
5/24
|
NBC
|
3:00-6:00pm
|
0.4
|
513
|
| Laureus Sports Awards |
5/24
|
NBC
|
2:00-3:00pm
|
0.3
|
411
|
| Lucas Oil Off Road Racing |
5/25
|
CBS
|
2:00-3:00pm
|
0.3
|
330
|
| TELECAST |
DATE
|
NET
|
TIME (ET)
|
RAT.
|
VIEWERS
(000)
|
| NBA Eastern Conference Finals: Heat-Pacers: Game 2 |
5/20
|
ESPN
|
8:33-11:14pm
|
4.9
|
7,544
|
| NBA Eastern Conference Finals: Pacers-Heat: Game 3 |
5/24
|
ESPN
|
8:37-11:16pm
|
4.1
|
6,818
|
| NBA Western Conference Finals: Spurs-Thunder: Game 3 |
5/25
|
TNT
|
8:30-11:09pm
|
3.9
|
6,679
|
| NBA Western Conference Finals: Thunder-Spurs: Game 1 |
5/19
|
TNT
|
9:00-11:35pm
|
4.0
|
6,363
|
| NBA Western Conference Finals: Thunder-Spurs: Game 2 |
5/21
|
TNT
|
9:00-11:34pm
|
3.7
|
5,711
|
| NBA Draft Lottery |
5/20
|
ESPN
|
7:58-8:33pm
|
2.3
|
3,363
|
| NHL Eastern Conference Finals: Canadiens-Rangers: Game 3 |
5/22
|
NBCSN
|
8:00-11:12pm
|
1.1
|
1,638
|
| NHL Eastern Conference Finals: Canadiens-Rangers: Game 4 |
5/25
|
NBCSN
|
8:00-11:17pm
|
1.0
|
1,598
|
| NHL Eastern Conference Finals: Rangers-Canadiens: Game 2 |
5/19
|
NBCSN
|
8:01-10:44pm
|
1.0
|
1,479
|
| MLB: Cardinals-Reds |
5/25
|
ESPN
|
8:00-11:24pm
|
0.9
|
1,460
|
