NBC Sports Group wrapped up its second season of F1 telecasts with big viewership gains over '13, as well as gains from the last season of F1 racing on Fox Sports in ‘12. NBC, NBCSN and CNBC averaged 477,000 viewers for 19 races in ’14, up 30% from 366,000 viewers for the same number of races last year. The three nets also were up 15% from 414,000 viewers for 20 races across Fox and Speed in ’12. NBCSN also had the best-ever F1 audience for a single U.S. cable net, averaging 385,000 viewers for its 12 races. That figure is up 86% from last season and passes the previous record of 379,000 viewers set by Speed in '07. Sunday’s season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix drew 273,000 viewers for a 7:30am ET start on NBCSN. The last race in ’13 from Brazil aired on NBC, and in a later time slot. The April 6 Bahrain GP marked NBCSN’s best F1 race audience to date and best for any F1 race on cable TV in three seasons (594,000 viewers). NBC this year drew 788,000 viewers for the U.S. GP on Nov. 2, down sharply from 1.01 million viewers for the same race last year.
NOTES: The NHRA Mello Yello Series averaged 569,000 viewers for Sunday elimination races on ESPN/ESPN2 during the ’14 season, up 9% from 524,000 viewers last season. In an effort for increased exposure this season, ESPN ran three NHRA races live, while only one was live in ’13....Big Ten Network had its best total-day audience ever this past Saturday, when it aired three football and two men’s basketball games. A football doubleheader in the 12:00pm ET window led the way among BTN’s 12 metered markets. That doubleheader featured Indiana-Ohio State and Rutgers-Michigan State....Golf Channel drew 252,000 viewers for the final round of the LPGA CME Group Tour Championship last Sunday, which saw Lydia Ko win the event and the season title. That audience figure is up 33% from 189,000 viewers for Shanshan Feng’s victory at the event last year.
The chart below lists recent audience figures for sports telecasts on cable TV, as well as for primetime telecasts on broadcast TV. Figures for afternoon telecasts on broadcast TV were not available at presstime.
| TELECAST |
DATE
|
NET
|
TIME (ET)
|
RAT.
|
VIEWERS
(000)
|
| NFL: Dolphins-Broncos (83%) |
11/23
|
CBS
|
4:41-7:43pm
|
15.5
|
26,364
|
| "Sunday Night Football": Cowboys-Giants |
11/23
|
NBC
|
8:31-11:48pm
|
n/a
|
22,384
|
| "Football Night in America" |
11/23
|
NBC
|
7:30-8:15pm
|
n/a
|
8,985
|
| College Football: USC-UCLA |
11/22
|
ABC
|
8:06-11:32pm
|
n/a
|
4,850
|
| College Football: Oklahoma State-Baylor |
11/22
|
Fox
|
7:36-10:59pm
|
n/a
|
2,165
|
| Liga MX: Club America-Atlas |
11/22
|
Univision
|
5:55-8:00pm
|
n/a
|
1,074
|
| TELECAST |
DATE
|
NET
|
TIME (ET)
|
RAT.
|
VIEWERS
(000)
|
| "Monday Night Football": Steelers-Titans |
11/17
|
ESPN
|
8:15-11:18pm
|
8.1
|
12,766
|
| "Thursday Night Football": Chiefs-Raiders |
11/20
|
NFL Net
|
8:27-11:38pm
|
4.7
|
7,653
|
| College Football: Minnesota-Nebraska |
11/22
|
ESPN
|
12:00-3:24pm
|
2.2
|
3,362
|
| College Football: Missouri-Tennessee |
11/22
|
ESPN
|
7:30-11:09pm
|
1.9
|
3,318
|
| "Thursday Night Football Pre-Kick" |
11/20
|
NFL Net
|
8:00-8:27pm
|
1.7
|
2,801
|
| College Basketball: Kansas-Kentucky |
11/18
|
ESPN
|
9:27-11:37pm
|
1.7
|
2,745
|
| NBA: Spurs-Cavaliers |
11/19
|
ESPN
|
7:00-9:37pm
|
1.7
|
2,648
|
| College Basketball: Michigan State-Duke |
11/18
|
ESPN
|
7:00-9:08pm
|
1.6
|
2,482
|
| NBA: Lakers-Rockets |
11/19
|
ESPN
|
9:37pm-12:07am
|
1.5
|
2,270
|
| "College GameDay" |
11/22
|
ESPN
|
9:00am-12:00pm
|
1.3
|
1,946
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
