The Izod IndyCar Series has averaged 813,000 viewers for it first two races (one on ABC, one on NBC Sports Network), down 27% compared to the same races at the start of the ’11 season. Last Sunday’s Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama on NBCSN averaged 218,000 viewers, marking the lowest viewership for the race since it was added to the IndyCar schedule in ’10. The season-opening Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg averaged 1.3 million viewers on ABC on March 25, down 30% from the opener last year.
KICK IT: For the week of March 26-April 1, the EPL Manchester United-Fulham match on March 26 on ESPN2 was the most-viewed English-language soccer match on cable TV. Only one MLS match -- the March 31 Revolution-Galaxy match on NBCSN -- made the top 10. Meanwhile, Telemundo’s Mexico-Honduras Olympic soccer qualifier averaged 1.9 million viewers on April 2, marking the net’s most-viewed match of seven CONCACAF Olympic qualifiers (Austin Karp, THE DAILY).
NOTES: ABC’s Bulls-Thunder game last Sunday earned a 12.1 local rating in Oklahoma City, becoming the highest-rated NBA regular-season game ever in the market. The Thunder’s four telecasts last week averaged out to be the team’s best week ever of regular-season ratings (OKLAHOMAN, 4/4)….Golf Channel averaged 507,000 viewers for the first round of the LPGA Kraft Nabisco Championship on March 29, marking the most-viewed opening round for the event in 19 years (Golf Channel)….YES Network earned a 1.3 local rating in N.Y. for the Mets-Yankees game on Wednesday, marking the highest-rated weekday, daytime Spring Training ever on a N.Y. RSN (YES Network)….The three games of the NCAA men’s basketball Final Four drew 20.6 million radio listeners for the matchups on March 31 and April 2. By comparison, Super Bowl XLVI drew 23.1 million and the combined AFC/NFC Championships drew 22.9 million listeners (Dial Global).
The charts below lists final Nielsen ratings from recent sports telecasts. All ratings listed are U.S. ratings. Figures Fox were unavailable at presstime.
| TELECAST | DATE | NET | TIME (ET) | RAT. |
| NCAA Final Four: Kansas-Ohio State | 3/31 | CBS | 8:30-10:30pm | 9.6 |
| NCAA Final Four: Kentucky-Louisville | 3/31 | CBS | 6:00-8:00pm | 8.4 |
| NBA: Heat-Celtics | 4/1 | ABC | 3:30-6:00pm | 2.7 |
| PGA Tour: Shell Houston Open: Final Round | 4/1 | NBC | 3:00-6:00pm | 2.4 |
| PGA Tour: Shell Houston Open: Third Round | 3/31 | NBC | 3:00-6:00pm | 1.9 |
| NBA: Bulls-Thunder | 4/1 | ABC | 1:00-3:30pm | 1.9 |
| "Final Four Show" | 3/31 | CBS | 4:00-6:00pm | 1.4 |
| NHL: Flyers-Penguins | 4/1 | NBC | 12:30-3:00pm | 1.0 |
| "NBA Countdown" | 4/1 | ABC | 12:30-1:00pm | 0.9 |
ATP World Tour: Sony Ericsson Open Final:
Djokovic d. Murray | 4/1 | CBS | 1:00-3:30pm | 0.8 |
| Olympic soccer qualifier: Mexico-Canada | 3/31 | Telem. | 9:00-11:07pm | 0.8 |
| Monster Energy AMA Supercross (taped) | 4/1 | CBS | 12:00-1:00pm | 0.7 |
WTA Tour: Sony Ericsson Open Final:
Radwanska d. Sharapova | 3/31 | CBS | 12:00-3:00pm | 0.6 |
| "Human Highlight Reel" | 3/31 | CBS | 3:30-4:00pm | 0.6 |
| "ESPN Sports Saturday" | 3/31 | ABC | 4:00-6:00pm | 0.5 |
| "Big Dance in the Big Easy" | 3/31 | CBS | 3:00-3:30pm | 0.5 |
| Red Bull Signature Series: Super Natural (taped) | 3/31 | NBC | 1:00-3:00pm | 0.5 |
| National High School Slam Dunk, 3-Point Contest | 4/1 | CBS | 4:30-6:00pm | 0.5 |
Mexico Primera Division:
Estudiantes Tecos-Chivas de Guadalajara | 3/31 | Telef. | 6:55-9:00pm | 0.4 |
| "Kings of the Court" (taped) | 4/1 | CBS | 3:30-4:30pm | 0.4 |
| | | | | |
| TELECAST | DATE | NET | TIME (ET) | RAT. | VIEWERS (000) |
NCAA Women's Final Four:
Baylor-Stanford | 4/1 | ESPN | 9:12-11:11pm | 2.2 | 3,756 |
| NBA: Thunder-Lakers | 3/29 | TNT | 10:38pm-1:12am | 2.3 | 3,486 |
NCAA Women's Final Four:
Notre Dame-UConn | 4/1 | ESPN | 6:30-8:48pm | 1.8 | 2,943 |
| NBA: Mavericks-Heat | 3/29 | TNT | 8:00-10:38pm | 1.9 | 2,799 |
NCAA Women's Tournament:
Regional Final: Baylor-Tennessee | 3/26 | ESPN | 7:00-9:11pm | 1.1 | 1,654 |
| NBA: Trail Blazers-Clippers | 3/30 | ESPN | 10:41pm-1:14am | 1.1 | 1,604 |
| NBA: Magic-Knicks | 3/28 | ESPN | 7:00-9:30pm | 1.0 | 1,382 |
NCAA Women's Tournament:
Regional Final: UConn-Kentucky | 3/27 | ESPN | 7:00-9:19pm | 0.9 | 1,339 |
NCAA Women's Tournament:
Regional Final: Stanford-Duke | 3/26 | ESPN | 9:11-11:06pm | 0.9 | 1,263 |
| NBA: Mavericks-Magic | 3/30 | ESPN | 8:06-10:41pm | 0.9 | 1,248 |
