ABC’s Alabama-Michigan finished with a 4.8 rating and 7.9 million viewers last Saturday, leading the way among college football’s opening weekend. That figure is up from a 4.6 rating and 7.8 million viewers for the comparable LSU-Oregon matchup last year. Meanwhile, ESPN earned a 2.7 U.S. rating and 4.2 million viewers for the Boise State-Michigan State game last Friday night, marking the net’s third best audience for a Friday night game on record, behind only a doubleheader on Thanksgiving weekend in ’10. The net’s season-opening South Carolina-Vanderbilt game on Aug. 30 earned a 2.6 rating and 4.1 million viewers, marking the second-best opening audience ever for the net, behind only the Arizona-Georgia Tech game in ’94. Additionally, ESPNU averaged 1.5 million viewers for the Tennessee-N.C. State matchup last Friday, marking the net’s most-viewed college football game ever (Austin Karp, THE DAILY).
BANK ON IT: NBC earned a 3.3 final rating and 4.8 million viewers for the final round of the PGA Tour Deutsche Bank Championship on Monday, which saw Rory McIlroy win the event. Tiger Woods finished third. Those figures mark the highest-rated and most-viewed FedExCup Playoff round in five years, dating back to the Deutsche Bank final round in ’07, when Woods battled Phil Mickelson. Monday’s telecast was also the second-best round among all four FedExCup Playoff events since the format began in ’07. Meanwhile, Golf Channel’s coverage of the second round marked the highest-rated and most-viewed early round for the Deutsche Bank Championship ever (dating back to ’03). It was also the second-best audience for a FedExCup Playoff event round ever (NBC).
NOTES: NBC Sports Network averaged 247,000 viewers for the Izod IndyCar Series Baltimore Grand Prix last Sunday, down 58% from 591,000 viewers for the inaugural event last year....NBCSN also averaged 40,000 viewers for “Costas Tonight” on Aug. 29, which featured an interview with “Paterno” author Joe Posnanski (Karp).
The charts below lists final Nielsen ratings from recent sports telecasts. All ratings listed are U.S. ratings. Select figures for Fox and CBS were unavailable at presstime.
| TELECAST |
DATE
|
NET
|
TIME (ET)
|
RAT.
|
VIEWERS (000)
|
NCAA Football: Alabama-Michigan
(Cowboys Classic) |
9/1
|
ABC
|
8:06-11:34pm
|
4.8
|
7,918
|
PGA Tour: FedExCup Playoffs: Deutsche Bank Championship:
Final Round |
9/3
|
NBC
|
1:30-6:00pm
|
3.3
|
n/a
|
PGA Tour: FedExCup Playoffs: Deutsche Bank Championship:
Third Round |
9/2
|
NBC
|
3:00-6:00pm
|
2.4
|
n/a
|
| NCAA Football: (regional) |
9/1
|
ABC
|
3:30-7:15pm
|
2.3
|
3,452
|
| NCAA Football: Hawaii-USC |
9/1
|
Fox
|
7:46-11:13pm
|
1.2
|
1,823
|
| Horse Racing: Saratoga |
9/1
|
NBC
|
5:00-6:00pm
|
0.6
|
n/a
|
American Le Mans Series:
Baltimore Grand Prix |
9/2
|
ABC
|
12:00-2:00pm
|
0.6
|
822
|
Women's soccer friendly:
U.S.-Costa Rica |
9/1
|
NBC
|
2:30-5:00pm
|
0.5
|
n/a
|
| "Golf Central Live" |
9/2
|
NBC
|
2:30-3:00pm
|
0.5
|
n/a
|
| Liga MX: Chivas de Guadalajara-Puebla |
9/2
|
Telem.
|
5:55-8:00pm
|
0.4
|
645
|
| Diamond League Track & Field |
9/1
|
NBC
|
1:30-2:30pm
|
0.4
|
n/a
|
| Liga MX: Santos Laguna-Tigres UANL |
9/1
|
Telef.
|
7:54-10:00pm
|
0.3
|
n/a
|
| MLB special: "Caught Looking" |
9/2
|
NBC
|
1:00-2:00pm
|
0.3
|
n/a
|
| "Road to the Ryder Cup" |
9/2
|
NBC
|
2:00-2:30pm
|
0.3
|
n/a
|
| TELECAST |
DATE
|
NET
|
TIME (ET)
|
RAT.
|
VIEWERS (000)
|
| NASCAR Sprint Cup: AdvoCare 500 |
9/2
|
ESPN
|
7:30-11:34pm
|
3.4
|
5,558
|
NCAA Football:
Boise State-Michigan State |
8/31
|
ESPN
|
8:00-11:20pm
|
2.7
|
4,194
|
NCAA Football:
South Carolina-Vanderbilt |
8/30
|
ESPN
|
6:55-10:20pm
|
2.6
|
4,129
|
| NCAA Football: Clemson-Auburn |
9/1
|
ESPN
|
7:11-10:31pm
|
2.1
|
3,582
|
| NCAA Football: Ohio-Penn State |
9/1
|
ESPN
|
12:00-3:30pm
|
2.4
|
3,503
|
| "NASCAR Countdown" |
9/2
|
ESPN
|
6:42-7:30pm
|
1.9
|
2,912
|
| NCAA Football: Bowling Green-Florida |
9/1
|
ESPN
|
3:30-7:11pm
|
1.8
|
2,758
|
| NCAA Football: Kentucky-Louisville |
9/2
|
ESPN
|
4:01-6:42pm
|
1.5
|
2,409
|
| NCAA Football: Washington State-BYU |
8/30
|
ESPN
|
10:20pm-1:40am
|
1.5
|
2,188
|
| NCAA Football: Arkansas State-Oregon |
9/1
|
ESPN
|
10:31pm-2:11am
|
1.2
|
2,009
|
