NBCSN averaged 4.26 million viewers for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race from Pocono Raceway last Sunday afternoon, marking the net's second-best audience on record, behind only the 4.7 million viewers for the Brickyard 400 on July 26. Meanwhile, CNBC drew 172,000 viewers for the Verizon IndyCar Series race from Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course up against the Sprint Cup race last Sunday. It was CNBC's first IndyCar race. However, a replay of the IndyCar race on NBCSN later that night drew 666,000 viewers, marking the net's best IndyCar audience on record. The previous high for an IndyCar telecast on cable TV was the Sonoma race on ESPN2 in '08 (685,000 viewers). The combo of the Sprint Cup and IndyCar replay telecasts drove NBCSN to its second-best non-Olympic total-day audience on record.
AROUND THE HORN: YES Network on Wednesday matched its season-high local rating for a Yankees game. The RSN averaged a 4.17 local rating in N.Y. for the Red Sox-Yankees matchup, even with the top rating set for the same matchup the night before....CSN Philadelphia drew a 5.27 local rating Tuesday night for Dodgers-Phillies, the first game back at Citizens Bank Park for SS Jimmy Rollins after being traded in the offseason. The rating marked the RSN's best result for a Phillies game this season to date. Phillies games on the net are averaging a 3.8 local rating in the market since the All-Star break, up 36% from the first half of the season....Sportsnet drew 1.39 million viewers for Twins-Blue Jays on Monday night, which saw the Blue Jays debut of P David Price. That audience is the best for a Blue Jays regular-season game outside of non-home and non-season openers.
READY FOR RONDA: FS1 last Saturday night averaged 1.32 million viewers for its UFC prelims telecast, which aired ahead of UFC 190 and a main event featuring the Ronda Rousey-Bethe Correia bout. That audience is FS1's third-best UFC prelims on record and up 10% from the last prelims before a Rousey-headlined card Feb. 28 vs. Cat Zingano.
PUNCH OUT: ESPN averaged 1.07 million viewers for its second Premier Boxing Champions telecast last Saturday night, marking the net's best boxing audience since May 22, 1998. Saturday's telecast also was up 34% from the net's first PBC telecast on July 11. Meanwhile, Bounce TV averaged 459,000 viewers for its PBC debut on Sunday night, marking the net's best audience yet for a live event.
NOTES: NBC last Sunday averaged 2.0 million viewers for the Haskell Invitational, marking the best summer horse racing audience (between Belmont Stakes and Breeders' Cup) in 13 years. The race saw Triple Crown-winner American Pharoah win the race. NBC's audience also was up 102% from last year.
The charts below list final audience figures for recent sports telecasts.
| TELECAST |
DATE
|
NET
|
TIME (ET)
|
RAT.
|
VIEWERS
(000)
|
PGA Tour: Quicken Loans National:
Final Round |
8/2
|
CBS
|
3:00-6:45pm
|
2.1
|
3,143
|
PGA Tour: Quicken Loans National:
Third Round |
8/1
|
CBS
|
3:00-6:00pm
|
1.7
|
2,491
|
| Horse Racing: Haskell Invitational |
8/2
|
NBC
|
5:00-6:00pm
|
1.3
|
2,000
|
| Liga MX: Chivas-Cruz Azul |
8/2
|
UniMas
|
5:49-8:00pm
|
0.5
|
1,027
|
| Liga MX: Club America-Atlas |
8/1
|
Univision
|
5:55-8:04pm
|
0.6
|
996
|
| World Swimming Championships |
8/2
|
NBC
|
1:30-3:30pm
|
0.6
|
777
|
| "Mecum Auctions: Main Attractions" |
8/2
|
NBC
|
12:30-1:30pm
|
0.5
|
752
|
"E:60 Reports:
The Rise & Fall of Sepp Blatter" |
8/1
|
ABC
|
5:00-6:00pm
|
0.5
|
655
|
| "Red Bull Signature Series: Hart Lines" |
8/1
|
NBC
|
4:30-6:00pm
|
0.4
|
610
|
| Special Olympics |
8/1
|
ABC
|
4:00-5:00pm
|
0.4
|
527
|
| "Road to the PGA Championship" |
8/2
|
CBS
|
2:00-3:00pm
|
0.4
|
507
|
| "Red Bull Signature Series: Vans Pool Party" |
8/2
|
NBC
|
3:30-5:00pm
|
0.4
|
507
|
| "World of X Games: WSL Surfing" |
8/1
|
ABC
|
3:00-4:00pm
|
0.4
|
496
|
| "Dew Tour: Best of Chicago" |
8/1
|
NBC
|
3:00-4:30pm
|
0.3
|
482
|
| Ricoh Women's British Open highlights |
8/2
|
ABC
|
5:00-6:00pm
|
0.4
|
469
|
| Premier Boxing Champions |
8/2
|
Bounce TV
|
9:00pm-12:18am
|
0.3
|
459
|
| Liga MX: Leon-Veracruz |
8/1
|
Telemundo
|
9:00-11:01pm
|
0.2
|
442
|
| Liga MX: Tijuana-Dorados |
7/31
|
Azteca
|
10:20pm-12:33am
|
0.2
|
389
|
| "World of Adventure Sports" |
8/1
|
NBC
|
2:00-3:00pm
|
0.2
|
378
|
| TELECAST |
DATE
|
NET
|
TIME (ET)
|
RAT.
|
VIEWERS
(000)
|
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series:
Windows 10 400 (Pocono) |
8/2
|
NBCSN
|
1:58-5:12pm
|
2.6
|
4,264
|
| "NASCAR Sprint Cup prerace" |
8/2
|
NBCSN
|
1:27-1:58pm
|
1.8
|
2,898
|
| "NASCAR Sprint Cup postrace" |
8/2
|
NBCSN
|
5:12-6:00pm
|
1.5
|
2,444
|
| MLB: Nationals-Mets |
8/2
|
ESPN
|
8:00-10:58pm
|
1.3
|
1,999
|
| UFC 190 prelims |
8/1
|
FS1
|
8:00-10:00pm
|
0.8
|
1,322
|
| Premier Boxing Champions |
8/1
|
ESPN
|
9:00-10:57pm
|
0.7
|
1,073
|
NASCAR Xfinity Series:
U.S. Cellular 250 (Iowa) |
8/1
|
NBCSN
|
8:22-10:29pm
|
0.7
|
1,041
|
PGA Tour: Quicken Loans National:
Third Round |
8/1
|
Golf Channel
|
12:52-2:30pm
|
0.7
|
952
|
PGA Tour: Quicken Loans National:
Final Round |
8/2
|
Golf Channel
|
12:45-2:30pm
|
0.6
|
898
|
| MLB: Yankees-Rangers |
7/27
|
ESPN
|
8:00-11:11pm
|
0.6
|
842
|
