The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is averaging 7.1 million viewers after six races on Fox and FS1, down 12% from 8.1 million viewers at the same point last season, which was the first of a new media-rights deal. Last Sunday's race from Martinsville on FS1 -- the net's first telecast of the season -- drew 4.2 million viewers, up slightly from 4.1 million viewers last season. That marks the Sprint Cup's first year-over-year gain this season to date. The first two races of the season -- Daytona and Atlanta -- saw sharp declines from '15. Over the last four races, viewership has only seen a 3% decline from '15.
FOUR SCORE: ESPN again saw viewership decline for its coverage of the women's basketball NCAA Championship, which saw UConn secure its fourth straight national title. UConn's blowout of Syracuse on Tuesday night drew 2.972 million viewers, down 8% from 3.08 million viewers last year (UConn-Notre Dame), and down 30% from 4.27 million viewers from '14 (UConn-Notre Dame). This year's audience also is down sharply from 4.2 million viewers for UConn-Louisville in '13. For the entire women's tourney across ESPN and ESPN2, viewership was flat compared to '15.
NOTES: FS1 last Sunday drew 1.29 million viewers for live coverage of the NHRA Denso Spark Plugs Nationals from Las Vegas, marking the drag racing series' best audience in 14 years. The overwhelming majority of NHRA races in recent years have been on tape delay....Spike TV last Friday averaged 873,000 viewers for its Premier Boxing Champions card, marking a record high PBC telecast for the net. Coverage peaked at a record 1.01 million viewers from 10:36-11:21pm ET for the Adrien Broner-Ashley Theophane main event....MLB Network on Monday had its best Opening Day audience on record, with 87,000 viewers on a total-day basis. The net also saw 122,000 viewers for "MLB Tonight" coverage from 1:00pm-1:00am, up 15% from last year.
The chart below lists final audience figures from recent sports telecasts.
| TELECAST |
DATE
|
NET
|
TIME (ET)
|
RAT.
|
VIEWERS
(000)
|
NCAA Final Four:
North Carolina-Syracuse |
4/2
|
TBS
|
8:42-10:57pm
|
5.6
|
10,152
|
| NCAA Final Four: Villanova-Oklahoma |
4/2
|
TBS
|
5:55-8:19pm
|
4.8
|
8,302
|
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series:
STP 500 (Martinsville) |
4/3
|
FS1
|
1:00-5:00pm
|
2.5
|
4,232
|
PGA Tour: Shell Houston Open:
Final Round |
4/3
|
NBC
|
3:00-6:00pm
|
2.4
|
3,618
|
| "Inside March Madness" |
4/2
|
TBS
|
10:57-11:41pm
|
1.9
|
3,256
|
| MLB: Mets-Royals |
4/3
|
ESPN
|
8:27-11:53pm
|
1.8
|
2,896
|
| NBA: Celtics-Warriors |
4/1
|
ESPN
|
11:03pm-1:09am
|
1.8
|
2,691
|
ISU World Figure Skating
Championships (Ladies' Free Skate) |
4/2
|
NBC
|
9:00-11:00pm
|
1.8
|
2,690
|
FIFA World Cup qualifier:
Mexico-Canada |
3/29
|
UniMas
|
10:17pm-12:37am
|
1.2
|
2,388
|
NCAA Women's Final Four:
UConn-Oregon State |
4/3
|
ESPN
|
7:00-7:57pm
|
1.5
|
2,308
|
| NBA: Thunder-Rockets |
4/3
|
ABC
|
3:33-6:17pm
|
1.5
|
2,251
|
NCAA Final Four: UNC-Syracuse
(UNC Team Stream) |
4/2
|
TNT
|
8:42-10:58pm
|
n/a
|
2,158
|
PGA Tour: Shell Houston Open:
Third Round |
4/2
|
NBC
|
3:00-6:00pm
|
1.5
|
2,122
|
| MLB: Cardinals-Pirates |
4/3
|
ESPN
|
1:00-4:28pm
|
n/a
|
1,959
|
| NBA: Cavaliers-Hawks |
4/1
|
ESPN
|
8:04-11:03pm
|
n/a
|
1,868
|
| NHL: Bruins-Blackhawks |
4/3
|
NBC
|
12:30-3:00pm
|
0.9
|
1,356
|
| Liga MX: Chivas-UNAM Pumas |
4/3
|
UniMas
|
9:20-11:30pm
|
0.6
|
1,327
|
| EPL: Liverpool-Tottenham |
4/2
|
NBC
|
12:30-2:30pm
|
0.7
|
978
|
FIFA World Cup qualifier:
U.S.-Guatemala |
3/29
|
UniMas
|
7:13-9:28pm
|
0.5
|
938
|
| "NHL Live" |
4/3
|
NBC
|
12:00-12:30pm
|
0.7
|
933
|
| "30 for 30": "I Hate Christian Laettner" |
4/2
|
ABC
|
3:30-5:00pm
|
0.6
|
871
|
College basketball:
Reese's All-Star Game |
4/2
|
CBS
|
1:00-3:00pm
|
0.6
|
870
|
| PBR: First Premier Bank Invitational |
4/3
|
CBS
|
2:30-3:30pm
|
0.6
|
856
|
| "NBA Countdown" |
4/3
|
ABC
|
3:00-3:33pm
|
0.6
|
843
|
| Liga MX: Cruz Azul-Pachuca |
4/2
|
Univision
|
6:55-9:00pm
|
0.5
|
775
|
| "With a Kiss" (Bill Raftery documentary) |
4/2
|
CBS
|
12:00-1:00pm
|
0.6
|
770
|
American Family Insurance High School
Slam Dunk & 3-Point Championships |
4/3
|
CBS
|
3:30-5:00pm
|
0.5
|
725
|
| "NCAA March Madness Confidential" |
4/3
|
CBS
|
5:00-6:00pm
|
0.5
|
706
|
| "EPL Goal Zone" |
4/2
|
NBC
|
2:30-3:00pm
|
0.4
|
557
|
| "World of X Games: WSL Surfing" |
4/2
|
ABC
|
2:30-3:30pm
|
0.4
|
540
|
| Bundesliga: Dortmund-Werder Bremen |
4/2
|
Fox
|
12:00-2:00pm
|
0.2
|
312
|
