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Audience Analysis: NBCSN Sets Record For EPL On Cable; Sox-Yanks Down 17% On ESPN

NBCSN drew 1.13 million viewers for Manchester City-Manchester United last Sunday from 10:57am-1:04pm ET, marking the most-viewed EPL match ever on U.S. cable TV. The previous record was 1.03 million viewers for the same matchup on ESPN on April 30, 2012. Last Sunday’s game peaked at 1.3 million viewers from 11:15-11:30am. To date, NBC and NBCSN are combining to average 486,000 viewers for EPL games this season, up 10% from the same point in the ’13-14 season.

MOST-VIEWED EPL MATCHES ON CABLE TV IN THE U.S.
DATE
MATCH
NET
VIEWERS (000)
4/12/15
Man City-ManU
NBCSN
1,133
4/30/12
ManU-Man City
ESPN
1,033
1/19/14
Chelsea-ManU
NBCSN
1,019
3/22/15
Liverpool-ManU
NBCSN
950
10/5/14
Chelsea-Arsenal
NBCSN
874
       

AROUND THE DIAMOND: ESPN drew 2.29 million viewers for “Sunday Night Baseball” last week, which featured the net’s first Red Sox-Yankees telecast of the season. That figure is down 17% from 2.77 million viewers for the same game on the same night last season. The first game in the series last Friday, which lasted just over seven hours, averaged 460,000 viewers on MLB Network, helping the net to its best regular-season total-day audience on record. MLB Net’s previous record was during former MLBer Derek Jeter’s final home game last season on Sept. 25. Meanwhile, SNY drew a 4.32 local rating in N.Y. for Phillies-Mets on Tuesday, which marked the first home game for P Matt Harvey since ’13. That rating is SNY’s best Mets game since July 2, 2012. CSN Chicago also saw a strong figure for Reds-Cubs on Monday, drawing a 3.94 local rating for the primetime game, marking the RSN’s best figure for a Cubs game since a matchup against the White Sox on June 22, 2011.

NIGHT LIGHTS: Fox finished with 4.84 million viewers for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Duck Commander 500 from Texas Motor Speedway last weekend, which was the series’ first Saturday primetime race of the season. That figure is down from 6.04 million viewers for the first primetime race last season, which aired from Darlington Raceway. The audience is also Fox' lowest on record for a regular-scheduled Sprint Cup race (excludes rainout makeups). TMS has aired the first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series primetime race in four of the last five seasons.

FIRST SCHEDULED NASCAR SPRINT CUP PRIMETIME RACE
YEAR
NET
TRACK
RAT.
VIEWERS (000)
'15
Fox
Texas
2.9
4,842
'14
Fox
Darlington
3.6
6,039
'13
Fox
Texas
3.8
6,269
'12
Fox
Texas
4.0
6,766
'11
Fox
Texas
4.0
7,036
'10
Fox
Phoenix
3.7
5,977
         

NOTES: NBCSN drew 341,000 viewers on Sunday afternoon for the inaugural Verizon IndyCar Series Grand Prix of Louisiana. That figure is down from 368,000 for the second race of the season last year, which aired from Long Beach. Both races had competition from the final round of The Masters.

The charts below list final audience figures for recent sports telecasts.

TELECAST
DATE
NET
TIME (ET)
RAT.
VIEWERS
(000)
NCAA Basketball Championship:
Duke-Wisconsin
4/6
CBS
9:18-11:28pm
16.0
28,263
The Masters: Final Round
4/12
CBS
2:00-7:15pm
8.7
14,000
The Masters: Third Round
4/11
CBS
3:00-7:15pm
5.8
8,900
"NCAA Championship Pre-Game"
4/6
CBS
8:40-9:10pm
5.0
7,903
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series:
Duck Commander 500 (Texas)
4/11
Fox
7:49-11:27pm
2.9
4,842
"Premier Boxing Champions"
4/11
NBC
8:30-11:00pm
1.8
2,882
"Jim Nantz Remembers Augusta:
Raymond Floyd at The Masters"
4/12
CBS
1:00-2:00pm
1.3
1,862
"The Masters: When They Were Young"
4/11
CBS
2:00-3:00pm
1.0
1,406
PBR: DeWalt Guaranteed Tough Invitational
4/12
CBS
12:00-1:00pm
0.9
1,285
Liga MX: Chivas de Guadalajara-Leon
4/12
UniMas
5:50-8:00pm
0.5
909
Liga MX: Cruz Azul-Tigres UANL
4/11
Univision
5:55-8:00pm
0.4
900
World Figure Skating Championships
4/12
NBC
3:00-6:00pm
0.6
835
"The Keys to The Masters"
4/11
CBS
1:30-2:00pm
0.6
788
EPL: Burnley-Arsenal
4/11
NBC
12:30-2:30pm
0.6
723
"The Masters: Substance of Style"
4/11
CBS
1:00-1:30pm
0.5
684
NHL: (regional)
4/11
NBC
3:00-6:00pm
0.5
634
"NCAA Final Four Confidential"
4/11
CBS
12:00-1:00pm
0.5
629
"Gruden's QB Camp"
4/11
ABC
2:00-3:00pm
0.4
548
"ESPN Sports Saturday"
4/11
ABC
4:00-6:00pm
0.4
508
"EPL Goal Zone"
4/11
NBC
2:30-3:00pm
0.4
493
Liga MX: Pachuca-UNAM Pumas
4/11
Telemundo
9:00-11:04pm
0.2
433
"UFC Road to the Octagon"
4/12
Fox
5:00-6:00pm
0.3
429
"World of X Games"
4/11
ABC
3:00-4:00pm
0.3
410
TELECAST
DATE
NET
TIME (ET)
RAT.
VIEWERS
(000)
The Masters: First Round
4/9
ESPN
3:00-7:15pm
2.2
3,218
NCAA Women's Basketball Championship:
UConn-Notre Dame
4/7
ESPN
8:30-10:34pm
2.0
3,081
The Masters: Second Round
4/10
ESPN
3:00-7:30pm
2.1
2,952
MLB: Red Sox-Yankees
4/12
ESPN
8:00-11:35pm
1.5
2,291
NBA: Trail Blazers-Warriors
4/9
TNT
10:44pm-1:03am
1.3
1,870
NBA: Bulls-Heat
4/9
TNT
8:14-10:44pm
1.1
1,684
NASCAR Xfinity Series:
O'Reailly Auto Parts 350 (Texas)
4/10
FS1
8:30-11:03pm
0.8
1,172
The Masters: Second Round (repeat)
4/10
ESPN
8:00-11:01pm
0.7
1,157
EPL: Manchester City-Manchester United
4/12
NBCSN
10:57am-1:04pm
0.6
1,133
The Masters: Par 3 Contest
4/8
ESPN
3:00-5:00pm
0.8
1,085

 

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