ESPN averaged 1.89 million viewers for Florida’s two-game sweep of LSU in the College World Series, marking the CWS Finals’ best audience since Vanderbilt beat Virginia in three games in ’14. Last year, the three-game Coastal Carolina-Arizona series averaged 1.09 million viewers, but that included a Game 3 that aired on ESPNU on a Thursday afternoon due to weather delays in Omaha. Florida-LSU Game 1 on Monday was the best for a CWS Finals opener since South Carolina-Florida in ’11. Game 2 on Tuesday night was the best second CWS Finals game since Arizona-South Carolina in ’12. Digitally, WatchESPN had its best CWS on record.
|
COLLEGE WORLD SERIES FINALS AUDIENCE TREND
|
|
YEAR
|
MATCHUP
|
GAMES
|
VIEWERS (000)
|
|
'17
|
Florida-LSU
|
2
|
1,889
|
|
'16
|
Coastal Carolina-Arizona
|
3
|
1,085
|
|
'15
|
Virginia-Vanderbilt
|
3
|
1,412
|
|
'14
|
Vanderbilt-Virginia
|
3
|
2,005
|
NOTES: NBC drew 971,000 viewers for the Nitro World Games on Saturday night, down 28% from the event last year, which aired in mid-July….FS1 on Monday night drew 398,000 viewers for the debut of the BIG3 basketball league on tape delay. The audience ranks it among FS1’s top 10 basketball telecasts all-time. For a comparison, FS1 in March drew 363,000 viewers for the Villanova-Seton Hall Big East Tournament semifinals.
The chart below lists final audience figures from select recent sports telecasts.
| TELECAST |
DATE
|
NET
|
TIME (ET)
|
RAT.
|
VIEWERS
(000)
|
PGA Tour: Travelers Championship:
Final Round |
6/25
|
CBS
|
3:00-6:30pm
|
2.3
|
3,500
|
| NBA Draft |
6/22
|
ESPN
|
7:33pm-12:23am
|
2.2
|
3,420
|
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series:
Toyota/Save Mart 350 (Sonoma) |
6/25
|
FS1
|
2:59-6:22pm
|
2.0
|
3,240
|
| "NBA Draft Show" |
6/22
|
ESPN
|
7:00-7:33pm
|
1.7
|
2,565
|
PGA Tour: Travelers Championship:
Third Round |
6/24
|
CBS
|
3:00-6:00pm
|
1.4
|
2,108
|
| MLB: (regional) |
6/24
|
Fox
|
7:12-10:30pm
|
1.2
|
1,920
|
| MLB: Pirates-Cardinals |
6/25
|
ESPN
|
8:00-11:21pm
|
1.0
|
1,468
|
| CWS pool play: Florida-TCU |
6/24
|
ESPN
|
8:00-11:01pm
|
0.8
|
1,327
|
| CWS pool play: LSU-Florida State |
6/21
|
ESPN
|
7:00-10:25pm
|
n/a
|
1,220
|
| CWS pool play: LSU-Oregon State |
6/19
|
ESPN
|
7:00-10:48pm
|
n/a
|
1,211
|
| CWS pool play: LSU-Oregon State |
6/24
|
ESPN
|
3:00-5:51pm
|
0.8
|
1,197
|
Track & Field:
U.S. Outdoor Championships |
6/25
|
NBC
|
4:00-6:00pm
|
0.8
|
1,118
|
| CWS pool play: Florida-TCU |
6/23
|
ESPN
|
8:00-11:51pm
|
n/a
|
1,049
|
| CWS pool play: LSU-Oregon |
6/23
|
ESPN
|
3:00-6:18pm
|
n/a
|
1,044
|
Track & Field:
U.S. Outdoor Championships |
6/24
|
NBC
|
4:00-6:00pm
|
0.7
|
1,020
|
| Action Sports: Nitro World Games |
6/24
|
NBC
|
8:00-11:00pm
|
0.6
|
971
|
| Sailing: America's Cup |
6/25
|
NBC
|
1:00-3:00pm
|
0.6
|
928
|
| Sailing: America's Cup |
6/24
|
NBC
|
1:00-2:30pm
|
0.6
|
827
|
FIFA Confederations Cup:
Mexico-Russia |
6/24
|
Fox
|
11:30am-1:30pm
|
0.5
|
780
|
| Major League Fishing (taped) |
6/24
|
CBS
|
2:00-3:00pm
|
0.5
|
676
|
| "World of X Games: Real BMX" |
6/24
|
ABC
|
2:00-3:00pm
|
0.4
|
562
|
| "30 for 30": "Celtics/Lakers" (Part 3) |
6/24
|
ABC
|
3:00-5:00pm
|
0.4
|
562
|
FIFA Confederations Cup:
Germany-Cameroon |
6/25
|
Fox
|
11:30am-1:30pm
|
0.4
|
546
|
Lucas Oil Off Road
Racing Series (taped) |
6/25
|
CBS
|
2:00-3:00pm
|
0.4
|
481
|
| MLS: Red Bulls-NYCFC |
6/24
|
Fox
|
1:30-3:30pm
|
0.3
|
467
|
"World of X Games:
Boise Park qualifying" |
6/25
|
ABC
|
3:30-4:30pm
|
0.3
|
376
|
