Univision averaged 1.5 million viewers for the MLS All-Star Game on Wednesday night, marking the net’s best figure on record for the event. The MLS All-Stars took on Real Madrid this year, losing in penalty kicks. The 1.5 million viewers also is the best audience on any net, English or Spanish, for the MLS ASG in its 21-year history. It also was Univision’s most-watched MLS match, regular-season or postseason, on record. FS1 drew 420,000 viewers for the English-language broadcast of this year’s ASG. For a comparison, ESPN last Saturday for the FC Barcelona-Real Madrid match in the Int’l Champions Cup averaged 836,000 viewers.
CASTERLY ROCK IS COOKIN’: HBO’s “Ballers” has been a big winner so far with “Game of Thrones” as its lead-in show. The first two episodes of Season 3 for the Sunday night show in the 10:00pm ET window have averaged 2.53 million viewers, up 77% from the first two episodes last season. The first two episodes this season also easily mark its two most-watched episodes yet. Only the show’s pilot in ’15 drew over 2 million episodes prior to the start of this season.
AFTER SUNRISE: Over the last year (through June 25), ESPN's "First Take" has taken the lead among all morning news shows among young males. The 10:00am ET program is averaging 107,000 viewers among males 18-34 since June 27, 2016, topping ABC's "GMA," which delivered 92,000 in the demo. ESPN's "SportsCenter: AM" is third with 82,000 viewers, ahead of the likes of NBC's "Today" and "CBS This Morning." No other sports programming ranks in the top 10. "SportsCenter: AM" has a media age of 39 in that time frame, while "First Take" is 41. Each of those figures is at least 15 years younger than other major morning news shows. "First Take" also draws four times the number of males 18-34 than either "Fox & Friends," CNN's "New Day" or MSNBC's "Morning Joe."
BE LIKE MIKEY: Showtime on Saturday night drew its best boxing audience of ’17, averaging 881,000 viewers for Mikey Garcia’s 12-round decision over Adrien Broner.
The chart below lists final audience figures from select recent sports telecasts on broadcast TV.
| TELECAST |
DATE
|
NET
|
TIME (ET)
|
RAT.
|
VIEWERS
(000)
|
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup
Series: Overton's 400 (Pocono) |
7/30
|
NBCSN
|
3:24-6:17pm
|
2.2
|
3,667
|
CONCACAF Gold Cup final:
U.S.-Jamaica |
7/26
|
Univision
|
9:50pm-12:17am
|
1.2
|
2,288
|
PGA Tour: RBC Canadian
Open: Final Round |
7/30
|
CBS
|
3:00-6:00pm
|
1.5
|
2,240
|
| "NASCAR Cup Series Postrace" |
7/30
|
NBCSN
|
6:17-7:02pm
|
n/a
|
1,793
|
CONCACAF Gold Cup
final: U.S.-Jamaica |
7/26
|
FS1
|
9:30-11:49pm
|
n/a
|
1,782
|
| MLB: Giants-Dodgers |
7/30
|
ESPN
|
8:00pm-12:06am
|
1.1
|
1,683
|
NASCAR Xfinity Series:
U.S. Cellular 250 (Iowa) |
7/29
|
NBC
|
3:45-6:15pm
|
1.1
|
1,668
|
PGA Tour: RBC Canadian
Open: Third Round |
7/29
|
CBS
|
3:00-6:00pm
|
1.0
|
1,449
|
| Liga MX: Santos Laguna-Chivas |
7/26
|
Univision
|
7:50-9:50pm
|
0.6
|
1,169
|
Breeders' Cup Challenge Series:
Haskell Invitational |
7/30
|
NBC
|
5:00-6:00pm
|
0.7
|
992
|
Golf: Senior Open
Championship: Final Round |
7/30
|
NBC
|
12:00-2:00pm
|
0.7
|
964
|
| "NASCAR Cup Series Prerace" |
7/30
|
NBCSN
|
12:33-2:30pm
|
n/a
|
957
|
| Liga MX: Pachuca-Club America |
7/29
|
Univision
|
8:00-10:03pm
|
0.5
|
913
|
NASCAR Camping World Truck
Series: Overton's 150 (Pocono) |
7/29
|
Fox
|
1:00-2:45pm
|
0.6
|
881
|
Boxing: Mikey Garcia
d. Adrien Broner |
7/29
|
Showtime
|
10:04-10:54pm
|
0.5
|
881
|
Int'l Champions Cup:
FC Barcelona-Real Madrid |
7/29
|
ESPN
|
7:55-10:12pm
|
0.5
|
836
|
World Swimming
Championships (taped) |
7/29
|
NBC
|
2:00-3:00pm
|
0.6
|
793
|
World Swimming
Championships (taped) |
7/30
|
NBC
|
3:00-5:00pm
|
0.6
|
790
|
Golf: Senior Open
Championship: Third Round |
7/29
|
NBC
|
12:00-2:00pm
|
0.6
|
774
|
| MLB: Cubs-White Sox |
7/26
|
ESPN
|
8:00pm-12:05am
|
n/a
|
735
|
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup
Series qualifying (Pocono) |
7/30
|
NBCSN
|
11:30am-12:33pm
|
0.5
|
735
|
Women's soccer friendly:
U.S.-Brazil |
7/30
|
ESPN2
|
8:00-10:04pm
|
0.4
|
643
|
| Liga MX: Necaxa-Tijuana |
7/29
|
Univision
|
10:03pm-12:03am
|
0.3
|
584
|
| "America's Toughest Mudder" |
7/30
|
CBS
|
1:00-2:00pm
|
0.4
|
578
|
| Major League Fishing (taped) |
7/29
|
CBS
|
2:00-3:00pm
|
0.4
|
541
|
"World of X Games: Best of
X Games Minneapolis" |
7/29
|
ABC
|
2:00-3:00pm
|
0.4
|
485
|
| MLS: Atlanta United-Orlando City |
7/29
|
Fox
|
4:45-7:00pm
|
0.3
|
478
|
"30 for 30":
"Mike & The Mad Dog" |
7/30
|
ABC
|
3:00-4:00pm
|
0.3
|
448
|
"30 for 30 Shorts": "Amazing
Adventures of Wally & The Worm" |
7/30
|
ABC
|
4:00-5:00pm
|
0.3
|
409
|
"Best of the Special Olympics
World Winter Games" |
7/29
|
ABC
|
3:00-5:00pm
|
0.3
|
368
|
