The WNBA All-Star Game averaged 734,000 viewers on Sunday afternoon on ABC, marking the event’s best audience since 2015, when ABC and ESPN combined to draw 746,000 on a Saturday afternoon. This year was the first time the game was on a Sunday afternoon since 2007. ABC is up 56% from 470,000 viewers on ESPN last year on a Wednesday night, and up 44% from ABC’s telecast on a Saturday afternoon in 2019.
BLADES OF STEEL: The first round of the NHL Draft had its best audience yet on Friday (records dating back to 1994), as ESPN averaged 457,000 for the telecast. The draft returned to a live event for the first time since 2019, when it averaged 365,000 viewers on NBCSN. Last year’s remote draft, which aired on ESPN2 in late July, averaged 268,000.
TEE TIME: Drama around golf likely helped CBS and NBC over the weekend. The final round of the Genesis Scottish Open saw its best figure on record for U.S. airwaves, as CBS averaged 2.17 million viewers on Sunday from the DP World Tour event. Meanwhile, NBC on Sunday drew 1.4 million viewers for the final round of the celebrity-driven American Century Championship from Lake Tahoe, the event’s best Sunday figure since 2009.
BIG EAST: Fox averaged 2.64 million viewers for MLB regionalized action on Saturday night, which was mostly Yankees-Red Sox across U.S. markets. That figure is the best MLB regular-season telecast on any network since Fox’s telecast of the Field of Dream Game last August. On Sunday night, ESPN and ESPN2 combined to averaged 2.18 million viewers for Yanks-Sox, marking the second-best “Sunday Night Baseball” game this season, behind only the same matchup on opening weekend.
NOTES: ESPN averaged 1.1 million viewers for Cardinals-Braves last Wednesday, which is one of the network’s five exclusive midweek games this season. That figure is almost double what ESPN averaged for midweek games last year, which were non-exclusive games under the previous media rights deal (562,000 viewers).
The chart below lists viewership figures for select recent sports telecasts.
| TELECAST |
DATE |
NET(S) |
TIME (ET) |
VIEWERS
(000) |
| MLB: (regional) |
7/9 |
Fox |
7:12-10:49pm |
2,636 |
| NASCAR Cup Series (Atlanta) |
7/10 |
USA Net |
3:09-6:38pm |
2,626 |
Wimbledon men's final:
Novak Djokovic d. Nick Kyrgios |
7/10 |
ESPN |
9:00am-1:16pm |
2,244 |
| MLB: Yankees-Red Sox |
7/10 |
ESPN/
ESPN2 |
7:00-10:52pm |
2,176 |
| DP World Tour: Genesis Scottish Open: final round |
7/10 |
CBS |
12:00-3:00pm |
2,169 |
| Golf: American Century Championship: final round |
7/10 |
NBC |
2:30-6:00pm |
1,400 |
| DP World Tour: Genesis Scottish Open: third round |
7/9 |
CBS |
12:00-3:00pm |
1,382 |
Wimbledon ladies' final:
Elena Rybakina d. Ons Jabeur |
7/9 |
ESPN |
9:00-11:48am |
1,214 |
| MLB: Cardinals-Braves |
7/6 |
ESPN |
7:00-10:04pm |
1,104 |
| F1: Grand Prix of Austria |
7/10 |
ESPN2 |
8:55-10:56am |
1,066 |
| Wimbledon: Round of 16 |
7/4 |
ESPN |
8:00am-4:06pm |
1,043 |
| Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest (same-day tape) |
7/4 |
ESPN |
4:06-5:00pm |
1,033 |
Wimbledon men's final:
Novak Djokovic d. Nick Kyrgios (same-day tape) |
7/10 |
ABC |
3:00-6:00pm |
1,024 |
| Golf: American Century Championship: second round |
7/9 |
NBC |
2:30-6:00pm |
1,000 |
| Camping World SRX Series (Nashville) |
7/9 |
CBS |
8:00-10:00pm |
981 |
| Wimbledon: quarterfinals |
7/6 |
ESPN |
8:00am-3:00pm |
863 |
Wimbledon ladies' final:
Elena Rybakina d. Ons Jabeur (same-day tape) |
7/9 |
ABC |
3:00-6:00pm |
838 |
| NASCAR Xfinity Series (Atlanta) |
7/9 |
USA Net |
5:19-7:23pm |
828 |
| WNBA All-Star Game |
7/10 |
ABC |
1:00-3:00pm |
734 |
| Liga MX: Pachuca-Cruz Azul |
7/9 |
Univision/
TUDN |
10:00pm-12:13am |
673 |
| Basketball: Big3 (Dallas) |
7/10 |
CBS |
3:00-6:00pm |
625 |
| "World Games 2022 Preview Show" |
7/9 |
CBS |
3:00-4:00pm |
588 |
| Liga MX: UNAM Pumas-Leon |
7/9 |
Univision/
TUDN |
7:32-10:00pm |
567 |
| MLS: Sounders-Timbers |
7/9 |
Fox |
4:30-6:30pm |
437 |
| "Westminster Kennel Club 2022 Highlight Show" |
7/9 |
Fox |
3:00-4:00pm |
421 |
| Lucas Oil AMA Motocross (Southwick) |
7/9 |
NBC |
1:30-2:30pm |
416 |
| "United by Football: A Season in the USFL" |
7/9 |
Fox |
4:00-4:30pm |
348 |
