Fox averaged 9.5 million viewers for NASCAR’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 from Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday, marking the most-viewed non-Daytona 500 Sprint Cup Series race since ’11. The second race of the season was up 8% from 8.8 million viewers last year, when Phoenix held the second event. It also was the best audience for an Atlanta Sprint Cup race since ’08, when the track still had two Sprint Cup races annually. Last year, Atlanta’s lone race came on Labor Day weekend and aired on ESPN. No non-Daytona 500 NASCAR race has averaged over 10 million viewers since ’11.
ABOVE THE RIM: Audiences continue to watch the return of LeBron James to the Cavaliers. ABC drew 6.9 million viewers for Cavs-Rockets last Sunday afternoon, marking the NBA’s best non-Christmas game on ABC since last January. The game drew a 15.8 local rating in Cleveland-Akron, marking the best figure in the market for an NBA regular-season game on ABC or ESPN in five years. Houston also drew an 8.6 local rating, which is the best for a regular-season game on ABC or ESPN in seven years. Meanwhile, TNT's broadcast of Warriors-Cavaliers on Feb. 26 was the most-watched sports telecast on all of cable TV for the week ending March 1….SportSouth averaged a 3.7 local rating in Atlanta for 11 Hawks games in February, marking the RSN’s best month on record for the team. Hawks ratings on SportSouth are up 120% compared to the same point last season.
ON BROADWAY: NBC drew 1.4 million viewers for Rangers-Flyers on Saturday night, which was the first scheduled NHL Saturday regular-season primetime telecast on broadcast TV since ’74. The game delivered NBC a primetime win among the major four broadcast nets among males 18-34. Among all broadcast nets, it was the 11th most-viewed program on Saturday night. Meanwhile, NBCSN drew a 2.2 local rating in N.Y. for Rangers-Red Wings on Wednesday night, marking the best NHL regular-season game in the market ever on the cable net.
RONDA HELPED ME: FS1 drew 1.2 million viewers for the UFC prelims last Saturday night ahead of the Ronda Rousey-Cat Zingano bout, marking the net’s third-best UFC prelims on record.
The charts below list final ratings from recent sports telecasts.
| TELECAST |
DATE
|
NET
|
TIME (ET)
|
RAT.
|
VIEWERS
(000)
|
NASCAR Sprint Cup: Folds of Honor
QuikTrip 500 (Atlanta) |
3/1
|
Fox
|
2:15-6:15pm
|
5.6
|
9,500
|
| NBA: Cavaliers-Rockets |
3/1
|
ABC
|
3:31-6:40pm
|
2.8
|
4,323
|
| College basketball: Arkansas-Kentucky |
2/28
|
CBS
|
4:13-6:30pm
|
1.9
|
2,877
|
| PGA Tour: Honda Classic: Third/Final Round* |
3/1
|
NBC
|
3:00-6:00pm
|
1.7
|
2,631
|
| NBA: Clippers-Bulls |
3/1
|
ABC
|
12:56-3:31pm
|
1.7
|
2,514
|
| College basketball: Michigan State-Wisconsin |
3/1
|
CBS
|
4:30-6:12pm
|
1.3
|
1,989
|
| College basketball: North Carolina-Miami |
2/28
|
CBS
|
2:20-4:13pm
|
1.1
|
1,508
|
| NHL: Rangers-Flyers |
2/28
|
NBC
|
8:00-10:30pm
|
0.8
|
1,400
|
| Liga MX: Chivas de Guadalajara-Monterrey |
3/1
|
UniMas
|
5:49-8:00pm
|
0.6
|
1,323
|
| PBR: Iron Cowboy |
3/1
|
CBS
|
1:00-2:00pm
|
0.8
|
1,216
|
| College basketball: SMU-UConn |
3/1
|
CBS
|
2:00-4:30pm
|
0.8
|
1,192
|
| Liga MX: Club America-Leones Negroes |
2/28
|
Univision
|
5:55-8:00pm
|
0.6
|
1,126
|
| "NBA Countdown" |
3/1
|
ABC
|
12:30-12:56pm
|
0.8
|
1,121
|
| "Skating & Gymnastics Spectacular" |
2/28
|
ABC
|
4:00-6:00pm
|
0.7
|
1,015
|
| USSA Grand Prix: Slopestyle |
3/1
|
NBC
|
12:00-2:00pm
|
0.6
|
918
|
| College basketball: Georgetown-St. John's |
2/28
|
CBS
|
12:00-2:20pm
|
0.7
|
884
|
| "Red Bull Frozen Rush" |
3/1
|
NBC
|
2:00-3:00pm
|
0.5
|
831
|
| "EPL Match of the Day" |
2/28
|
NBC
|
1:00-3:00pm
|
0.4
|
596
|
| College basketball: Villanova-Xavier |
2/28
|
Fox
|
2:00-4:15pm
|
0.4
|
566
|
| Liga MX: Leon-Santos Laguna |
2/28
|
Telemundo
|
9:00-11:07pm
|
0.2
|
487
|
| "The Grantland Basketball Hour" |
2/28
|
ABC
|
2:00-3:00pm
|
0.4
|
430
|
| Liga MX: Tijuana-Pachuca |
2/27
|
Azateca
|
10:31pm-12:34am
|
0.2
|
430
|
| "World of X Games: Air + Style L.A." |
2/28
|
ABC
|
3:00-4:00pm
|
0.4
|
425
|
"Premier League Download:
The Southampton Way" |
2/28
|
NBC
|
2:00-3:00pm
|
0.3
|
406
|
| TELECAST |
DATE
|
NET
|
TIME (ET)
|
RAT.
|
VIEWERS
(000)
|
| NBA: Warriors-Cavaliers |
2/26
|
TNT
|
8:14-10:46pm
|
1.7
|
2,644
|
| College basketball: Syracuse-Duke |
2/28
|
ESPN
|
7:21-9:08pm
|
1.4
|
2,261
|
| NBA: Thunder-Trail Blazers |
2/27
|
ESPN
|
10:35pm-1:08am
|
1.1
|
1,682
|
| NBA: Thunder-Suns |
2/26
|
TNT
|
10:46pm-1:43am
|
1.1
|
1,548
|
| College basketball: Texas-Kansas |
2/28
|
ESPN
|
4:57-7:21pm
|
1.0
|
1,531
|
NASCAR Xfinity Series:
Hisense 250 (Atlanta) |
2/28
|
FS1
|
2:00-4:40pm
|
1.0
|
1,516
|
| College basketball: Wisconsin-Maryland |
2/24
|
ESPN
|
7:00-9:03pm
|
1.0
|
1,504
|
| College basketball: Arizona-Utah |
2/28
|
ESPN
|
9:08-11:36pm
|
0.9
|
1,376
|
| NBA: Clippers-Rockets |
2/25
|
ESPN
|
8:04-11:38pm
|
0.9
|
1,300
|
| College basketball: Kansas-Kansas State |
2/23
|
ESPN
|
9:05-11:12pm
|
0.8
|
1,252
|
NOTE: * = No live coverage on Saturday due to rain. Final round concluded on Monday.
