The CBC averaged 386,000 viewers for the Milos Raonic-Vasek Pospisil men’s semifinal at the ATP Rogers Cup last Saturday, marking the best audience on record for a semifinal match at the event. The all-Canadian match was up 72% from the previous record, set in ’10 with a Rafael Nadal-Andy Murray match (225,000 viewers). Sunday’s final “clearly benefitted from a Raonic bump,” averaging 494,000 viewers, “by far the largest audience” for a final at the event since at least ’06. The previous high was 335,000 viewers for the Novak Djokovic-Roger Federer final in ’07 (TORONTO STAR, 8/13).
FOOTBALL IS BACK: The Cardinals-Packers preseason game on Aug. 9 on Milwaukee’s WTMJ-TV drew an audience “that was about one-third smaller” than last year’s Packers preseason opener. Many Time Warner Cable customers “did not see the game ... due to the ongoing contract dispute between the station’s owner and the cable company” (BIZJOURNALS.com, 8/12)….KPIX-TV drew a 12.9 local rating in S.F.-Oakland-San Jose for the Broncos-49ers preseason game on Aug. 8, delivering “more local households than watched the NCAA basketball championship last April -- or watched any of the A’s playoff baseball games last October” (MERCURYNEWS.com, 8/15).
The charts below list final Nielsen ratings from recent sports telecasts.
| TELECAST | DATE | NET | TIME (ET) | RAT. | VIEWERS (000) |
| PGA Championship: Final Round | 8/11 | CBS | 2:00-7:00pm | 3.8 | 5,480 |
| PGA Championship: Third Round | 8/10 | CBS | 2:00-7:00pm | 2.6 | 3,700 |
| NASCAR Nationwide Series: Watkins Glen | 8/10 | ABC | 2:15-5:00pm | 1.2 | 1,718 |
| MLB: (regional) | 8/10 | Fox | 4:00-7:30pm | 1.1 | n/a |
| World Track & Field Championships | 8/11 | NBC | 12:30-2:00pm | 0.8 | 1,172 |
| Liga MX: Cruz Azul-Chivas de Guadalajara | 8/10 | Univ. | 5:50-8:00pm | 0.6 | 1,162 |
| Horse Racing: Saratoga: FourStarDave Handicap | 8/10 | NBC | 5:00-6:00pm | 0.7 | 877 |
| World Track & Field Championships | 8/10 | NBC | 3:30-5:00pm | 0.6 | 840 |
| Red Bull Signature Series: Midseason highlights | 8/11 | NBC | 2:00-2:30pm | 0.6 | 799 |
| "College Football Preview Show" | 8/11 | CBS | 1:00-2:00pm | 0.6 | n/a |
| Red Bull Oakley Pro | 8/11 | NBC | 2:30-4:00pm | 0.4 | 641 |
| Liga MX: Tigres UANL-Monterrey | 8/10 | UniMas | 7:54-10:05pm | 0.3 | 581 |
| Liga MX: Leon-Morelia | 8/10 | Telem. | 9:00-11:23pm | 0.2 | 380 |
| "EPL Season Countdown" | 8/11 | NBC | 5:00-6:00pm | 0.3 | 373 |
| "EPL Club Guide" | 8/11 | NBC | 4:00-5:00pm | 0.2 | 304 |
| TELECAST | DATE | NET | TIME (ET) | RAT. | VIEWERS (000) |
| NASCAR Sprint Cup: Watkins Glen | 8/11 | ESPN | 1:00-4:30pm | 2.7 | 4,171 |
| NFL Preseason: Bengals-Falcons | 8/8 | ESPN | 8:00-11:01pm | 2.1 | 3,116 |
| PGA Championship: Second Round | 8/9 | TNT | 1:00-7:00pm | 1.4 | 1,954 |
| NFL Preseason: Giants-Steelers | 8/10 | NFLN | 7:30-10:49pm | 1.1 | 1,834 |
| NFL Preseason: Patriots-Eagles | 8/9 | NFLN | 7:30-10:45pm | 1.2 | 1,815 |
| MLB: Rays-Dodgers | 8/11 | ESPN | 8:00-11:00pm | 1.2 | 1,727 |
| PGA Championship: Third Round | 8/10 | TNT | 11:00am-2:00pm | 1.2 | 1,662 |
| PGA Championship: Final Round | 8/11 | TNT | 11:00am-2:00pm | 1.2 | 1,616 |
| NFL Preseason: Bills-Colts | 8/11 | NFLN | 1:30-4:52pm | 0.9 | 1,405 |
| "NASCAR Countdown" | 8/11 | ESPN | 12:00-1:00pm | 1.0 | 1,382 |
