TNT earned a 2.9 U.S. rating and 4.9 million viewers for last Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400 at Michigan Int’l Speedway from 12:59-3:58pm ET. While the rating was flat, viewership was up from 4.3 million viewers for the telecast last year. Last Sunday’s telecast also ranked as last week’s most-viewed sports telecast on cable TV and the sixth most-viewed telecast among all cable TV programs. Through two Sprint Cup telecasts, TNT is averaging a 3.1 rating and 5.1 million viewers, up from a 3.0 rating and 4.8 million viewers through the same point last season.
KICKING & SCREAMING: ESPN2 averaged 163,000 viewers for the MLS Fire-Sporting KC game on June 9 from 10:00pm-12:11am, the first match ever in the new Livestrong Sporting Park. The telecast marked the least-viewed MLS match on the net this season and the net’s least-viewed Thursday night MLS telecast since Dynamo-Real Salt Lake in May ’10 (138,000 viewers). Through eight telecasts on ESPN/ESPN2, MLS games are averaging 293,000 viewers, up 20% from 245,000 viewers through the same point last season (11 telecasts) (Austin Karp, THE DAILY)....Wednesday night’s CONCACAF Gold Cup semifinal between Mexico and Honduras was the best ever primetime sports telecast for Univision. The telecast averaged 7.1 million viewers to become the third most-viewed sporting event in the network’s history behind the '10 FIFA World Cup Round of 16 match between Mexico and Argentina (8.7 million viewers) and the '10 World Cup Final between Spain and Netherlands (8.3 million viewers). Mexico defeated Honduras 2-0 in overtime play to advance to the Gold Cup finals against the U.S (Fred Dreier, SportsBusiness Journal). Last Saturday's Mexico-Guatemala Gold Cup match also gave Univision a win among all networks in primetime for the night, regardless of language, among people 12-34 and adults and males 18-34 and 18-49 (Univision).
LOCAL BAROMETER: In Houston, David Barron notes FS Houston through Tuesday was averaging a 1.7 local rating in the Houston market for its Astros telecasts, down 34% from the comparable period a year ago. The net averaged a 2.4 local rating for the entire Astros season last year. Meanwhile, FS Southwest through 60 games was averaging a 3.4 local rating in the Dallas-Ft. Worth market for its Rangers telecasts, up 40% from the comparable period in '10. FS Southwest averaged a 3.5 local rating for the entire Rangers season last year (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 6/24)....Milwaukee's WISN-ABC averaged a 2.9 local rating for last Sunday's IndyCar Series Milwaukee 225. ABC averaged a 0.9 rating nationally for the race (JSONLINE.com, 6/20).
The chart below lists final Nielsen ratings from recent sports telecasts on broadcast and cable TV. All ratings are U.S. ratings.
| TELECAST | DATE | NET | TIME (ET) | RAT. | VIEWERS (000) |
| U.S. Open: Final Round | 6/19 | NBC | 1:30-7:47pm | 4.5 | 7,369 |
| U.S. Open: Third Round | 6/18 | NBC | 2:00-8:02pm | 3.1 | 4,574 |
CONCACAF Gold Cup:
Mexico-Guatemala | 6/18 | Univision | 7:55-10:13pm | 1.9 | 4,295 |
| MLB: (regional) | 6/18 | Fox | 4:00-7:00pm | 1.7 | 2,590 |
CONCACAF Gold Cup:
Panama-El Salvador | 6/19 | Univision | 5:54-9:00pm | 1.2 | 2,554 |
NASCAR Nationwide Series:
Alliance Truck Parts 250 | 6/18 | ABC | 3:30-6:00pm | 1.5 | 2,228 |
| U.S. Open: Second Round | 6/17 | NBC | 3:00-5:00pm | 1.4 | 1,832 |
| U.S. Open: First Round | 6/16 | NBC | 3:00-5:00pm | 1.4 | 1,825 |
CONCACAF Gold Cup:
U.S.-Jamaica | 6/19 | Univision | 2:52-5:02pm | 0.9 | 1,819 |
| "NASCAR Countdown" | 6/18 | ABC | 3:00-3:30pm | 0.7 | n/a |
CONCACAF Gold Cup:
Honduras-Costa Rica | 6/18 | Telefutura | 4:53-7:54pm | 0.7 | 1,433 |
Izod IndyCar Series:
Milwaukee 225 | 6/19 | ABC | 3:30-6:07pm | 0.8 | 1,233 |
| Lucas Oil Off Road Racing | 6/19 | CBS | 5:00-6:00pm | 0.4 | 610 |
| NCAA Spring Highlight Show | 6/18 | CBS | 4:00-5:00pm | 0.3 | 365 |
| TELECAST | DATE | NET | TIME (ET) | RAT. | VIEWERS (000) |
NASCAR Sprint Cup:
Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400 | 6/19 | TNT | 12:59-3:58pm | 2.9 | 4,890 |
| MLB: Yankees-Cubs | 6/19 | ESPN | 7:59-11:29pm | 1.9 | 2,971 |
College World Series:
South Carolina-Texas A&M | 6/19 | ESPN2 | 7:00-10:00pm | 0.8 | 1,253 |
| U.S. Open: First Round | 6/16 | ESPN | 4:58-7:00pm | 0.9 | 1,252 |
| U.S. Open: Second Round | 6/17 | ESPN | 5:00-7:42pm | 0.9 | 1,223 |
College World Series:
Vanderbilt-North Carolina | 6/18 | ESPN | 2:00-5:52pm | 0.8 | 1,170 |
| College World Series: Florida-Texas | 6/18 | ESPN | 7:00-10:08pm | 0.7 | 1,155 |
| U.S. Open: First Round | 6/17 | ESPN | 9:57am-3:00pm | 0.8 | 1,103 |
| MLB: Indians-Yankees | 6/13 | ESPN | 7:00-10:01pm | 0.7 | 1,011 |
CONCACAF Gold Cup:
Honduras-Jamaica | 6/13 | Galavision | 9:01-11:09pm | 0.5 | 968 |
