The news around driver Tony Stewart likely helped ESPN see increased ratings for its NASCAR coverage yesterday. The net drew a 3.1 overnight rating for the Sprint Cup Series Cheez-It 355 from Watkins Glen Int’l yesterday from 1:00-5:45pm ET, which had a lengthy delay due to a crash. That figure is up 19% from a 2.6 overnight for the race last year. Both races went head-to-head with the PGA Championship. ESPN also earned a 1.6 overnight for “NASCAR Countdown” from 12:00-1:00pm, which opened with nearly 20 minutes of coverage related to Stewart. Last week, the net only drew a 0.9 overnight for the pre-race show.
The chart below lists overnight ratings from weekend sports telecasts on broadcast TV.
| TELECAST |
DATE
|
NET
|
TIME (ET)
|
RATING
|
| NASCAR Nationwide Series: Zippo 200 at The Glen |
8/9
|
ABC
|
2:15-5:00pm
|
1.2
|
| "ESPN Sports Saturday" |
8/9
|
ABC
|
5:00-6:00pm
|
0.7
|
| Major League Fishing: Summit Cup Championship |
8/9
|
CBS
|
1:00-2:00pm
|
0.5
|
| PGA Championship: Third Round |
8/9
|
CBS
|
2:00-7:15pm
|
3.2
|
| AMA Motocross |
8/9
|
NBC
|
3:00-4:00pm
|
0.3
|
| U.S. Swimming National Championships |
8/9
|
NBC
|
4:00-6:00pm
|
0.5
|
| World of X Games: Games of Skate |
8/10
|
ABC
|
5:00-6:00pm
|
0.4
|
| PGA Championship: rain delay coverage |
8/10
|
CBS
|
2:00-3:00pm
|
2.0
|
| PGA Championship: Final Round |
8/10
|
CBS
|
3:00-9:00pm
|
6.0
|
| Ironman World Championship |
8/10
|
NBC
|
1:30-3:00pm
|
0.6
|
| World of Adventure Sports |
8/10
|
NBC
|
3:00-4:00pm
|
0.4
|
| U.S. Swimming National Championships |
8/10
|
NBC
|
4:00-5:30pm
|
0.5
|
