Jimmie Johnson’s record-tying seventh NASCAR Cup Series championship win drew 5.92 million viewers on Sunday afternoon on NBC, down 22% from last year’s finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, when the telecast ran well into primetime due to rain. Last year's race was also the last for Jeff Gordon, who was in contention for the championship. This year’s race featured the finale for Tony Stewart, but he was not in title contention. While down from last year on NBC, Sunday’s race was up 13% from 5.22 million viewers for the ’14 race from Homestead, which aired on ESPN. The year-over-year decline for the finale was indicative of the entire Chase for the Sprint Cup, which saw declines for virtually every race. Sunday’s finale also was simulcast on NBCSN, but those figures are excluded here.
The chart below lists final audience figures from select recent sports telecasts.
| TELECAST |
DATE
|
NET
|
TIME (ET)
|
RAT.
|
VIEWERS
(000)
|
NFL nat'l window:
Eagles-Seahawks (78%) |
11/20
|
CBS
|
4:25-7:45pm
|
13.6
|
24,359
|
| "SNF": Packers-Redskins |
11/20
|
NBC
|
8:32-11:42pm
|
10.8
|
18,729
|
| NFL: (regional) |
11/20
|
CBS
|
1:03-4:11pm
|
10.2
|
17,559
|
| NFL: (singleheader) |
11/20
|
Fox
|
1:00-4:05pm
|
8.4
|
14,252
|
| "TNF": Saints-Panthers |
11/17
|
NBC/
NFL Net
|
8:27-11:38pm
|
8.1
|
13,331
|
| "MNF": Bengals-Giants |
11/14
|
ESPN
|
8:15-11:49pm
|
6.7
|
10,717
|
| "Football Night in America" |
11/20
|
NBC
|
7:30-8:20pm
|
4.9
|
8,563
|
NASCAR Sprint Cup: Ford
EcoBoost 400 (Homestead-Miami) |
11/20
|
NBC
|
3:30-7:15pm
|
3.4
|
5,923
|
College football:
Ohio State-Michigan State |
11/19
|
ESPN
|
12:00-3:25pm
|
3.7
|
5,843
|
| College football: Indiana-Michigan |
11/19
|
ESPN
|
3:30-6:50pm
|
2.9
|
4,769
|
| "Fox NFL Sunday" |
11/20
|
Fox
|
12:00-1:00pm
|
3.0
|
4,643
|
| "The NFL Today" |
11/20
|
CBS
|
12:00-1:03pm
|
2.6
|
4,168
|
College football:
Oklahoma-West Virginia |
11/19
|
ABC
|
8:07-11:51pm
|
2.3
|
3,825
|
FIFA World Cup qualifier:
Panama-Mexico |
11/15
|
Telemundo
|
8:30-11:07pm
|
1.4
|
2,795
|
| College football: (regional)* |
11/19
|
ABC
|
3:30-7:17pm
|
1.7
|
2,568
|
College football:
Missouri-Tennessee |
11/19
|
CBS
|
3:30-7:32pm
|
1.5
|
2,453
|
College football:
Virginia Tech-Notre Dame |
11/19
|
NBC
|
3:47-7:00pm
|
1.5
|
2,449
|
College football:
UT Chattanooga-Alabama |
11/19
|
ESPN2
|
7:22-10:11pm
|
1.5
|
2,437
|
| College football: Louisville-Houston |
11/17
|
ESPN
|
7:55-11:38pm
|
n/a
|
2,433
|
| College basketball: Duke-Kansas |
11/15
|
ESPN
|
9:38pm-12:04am
|
n/a
|
2,361
|
| College football: USC-UCLA |
11/19
|
ESPN
|
10:30pm-1:53am
|
1.4
|
2,301
|
College football:
Arizona State-Washington |
11/19
|
Fox
|
7:40-11:03pm
|
1.3
|
2,181
|
College football:
Washington State-Colorado |
11/19
|
Fox
|
3:36-7:15pm
|
1.3
|
2,114
|
College basketball:
Kentucky-Michigan State |
11/15
|
ESPN
|
7:00-9:12pm
|
n/a
|
2,084
|
| "College GameDay" |
11/19
|
ESPN
|
9:00am-12:00pm
|
n/a
|
2,082
|
College football:
Wake Forest-Clemson |
11/19
|
ESPN
|
7:00-10:20pm
|
1.2
|
2,076
|
| College football: Wisconsin-Purdue |
11/19
|
ABC
|
12:01-3:14pm
|
1.3
|
1,850
|
| "NASCAR Countdown to Green" |
11/20
|
NBC
|
2:00-3:00pm
|
1.2
|
1,841
|
| Liga MX: Chivas-Necaxa |
11/19
|
Univision
|
9:58pm-12:07am
|
0.7
|
1,393
|
| "Fox NFL Kickoff" |
11/20
|
Fox
|
11:00am-12:00pm
|
0.9
|
1,387
|
| "NASCAR America" |
11/20
|
NBC
|
1:30-2:00pm
|
0.7
|
1,063
|
| "Notre Dame Football Pregame" |
11/19
|
NBC
|
3:00-3:45pm
|
0.6
|
828
|
| Liga MX: Tigres UANL-Queretaro |
11/19
|
Univision
|
7:55-9:58pm
|
0.4
|
794
|
| "College Football Today" |
11/19
|
CBS
|
3:00-3:30pm
|
0.5
|
720
|
| EPL: Tottenham Hotspur-West Ham |
11/19
|
NBC
|
12:30-2:30pm
|
0.5
|
642
|
| "Power Triumph Games" |
11/19
|
CBS
|
2:00-3:00pm
|
0.4
|
557
|
LPGA: CME Group
Tour Championship: Final Round |
11/20
|
ABC
|
1:00-4:00pm
|
0.4
|
509
|
| "Premier League Goal Zone" |
11/19
|
NBC
|
2:30-3:00pm
|
0.3
|
461
|
| "World of X Games: WSL Surfing" |
11/20
|
ABC
|
4:00-5:00pm
|
0.3
|
432
|
| Bundesliga: Dortmund-Bayern Munich |
11/19
|
Fox
|
12:30-2:30pm
|
0.3
|
426
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
NOTES: * = FSU-Syracuse and Texas-Kansas.
