ESPN averaged 809,000 viewers for live coverage of the F1 Monaco Grand Prix last Sunday morning, down from last year, when NBC averaged 1.44 million viewers in its final year with the race. ABC actually drew a better figure for the replay of the race later on Sunday afternoon (1.62 million viewers) following the Indy 500. Despite the drop for the live race compared to NBC in previous years, ESPN’s average was the biggest F1 audience on cable TV since the '95 Italian GP on ESPN (876,000 viewers). The combined 2.4 million viewers for ESPN's live feed and ABC's replay is higher than what NBC and NBCSN combined to average last year.
FIZZLING OUT: Fox averaged 4.09 million viewers for the Coca-Cola 600 last Sunday, marking a new low for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race from Charlotte. The race had strong competition from ESPN’s Cavaliers-Celtics Eastern Conference Finals Game 7. The previous low was last year’s 4.64 million viewers.
SPANISH CONQUEST: Real Madrid’s win over Liverpool in the UEFA Champions League Final averaged just over 2.0 million viewers, marking the game’s best figure on Fox since ’15, when FC Barcelona’s win over Juventus averaged 2.2 million viewers. Last year’s Real Madrid-Juventus finale drew 1.77 million viewers.
NOTES: The Fox broadcast net had its first regionalized MLB telecast of the season last Saturday night, featuring Angels-Yankees in most markets. Astros-Indians and Giants-Cubs were also featured in the telecast that averaged 2.47 million viewers, up 10% from the net’s first MLB window last year....CBS averaged 1.97 million viewers for the final round of the PGA Tour Ft. Worth Invitational last Sunday, which saw Justin Rose win. That is down 2% from '17.
The chart below lists final audience figures for select recent sports telecasts.
| TELECAST |
DATE
|
NET
|
TIME (ET)
|
RAT.
|
VIEWERS
(000)
|
NBA Eastern Conference Finals:
Cavaliers-Celtics: Game 7 |
5/27
|
ESPN
|
8:30-11:07pm
|
7.3
|
13,305
|
NBA Western Conference Finals:
Warriors-Rockets: Game 6 |
5/26
|
TNT
|
8:58-11:27pm
|
5.4
|
9,471
|
NBA Western Conference Finals:
Warriors-Rockets: Game 5 |
5/24
|
TNT
|
9:00-11:36pm
|
5.6
|
9,322
|
NBA Western Conference Finals:
Warriors-Rockets: Game 4 |
5/22
|
TNT
|
9:00-11:32pm
|
5.0
|
8,372
|
NBA Eastern Conference Finals:
Cavaliers-Celtics: Game 6 |
5/25
|
ESPN
|
8:34-11:08pm
|
4.9
|
8,273
|
NBA Eastern Conference Finals:
Cavaliers-Celtics: Game 4 |
5/21
|
ESPN
|
8:30-11:18pm
|
4.8
|
7,939
|
NBA Eastern Conference Finals:
Cavaliers-Celtics: Game 5 |
5/23
|
ESPN
|
8:30-11:09pm
|
4.5
|
7,511
|
| Verizon IndyCar Series: Indianapolis 500 |
5/27
|
ABC
|
12:07-3:45pm
|
3.1
|
4,910
|
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series:
Coca-Cola 600 (Charlotte) |
5/27
|
Fox
|
6:23-10:45pm
|
2.3
|
4,090
|
NHL Eastern Conference Finals:
Capitals-Lightning: Game 7 |
5/23
|
NBCSN
|
8:03-10:59pm
|
1.5
|
2,590
|
| MLB: (regional) |
5/26
|
Fox
|
7:12-10:40pm
|
1.6
|
2,469
|
NHL Eastern Conference Finals:
Capitals-Lightning: Game 6 |
5/21
|
NBCSN
|
8:02-10:56pm
|
n/a
|
2,112
|
UEFA Champions League Final:
Real Madrid-Liverpool |
5/26
|
Fox
|
2:26-5:00pm
|
1.2
|
2,004
|
| PGA Tour: Ft. Worth Invitational: Final Round |
5/27
|
CBS
|
3:00-6:00pm
|
1.3
|
1,971
|
| F1: Monaco Grand Prix (re-air) |
5/27
|
ABC
|
3:45-6:00pm
|
1.0
|
1,617
|
| PGA Tour: Ft. Worth Invitational: Third Round |
5/26
|
CBS
|
3:00-6:00pm
|
1.0
|
1,481
|
| MLB: Giants-Cubs |
5/27
|
ESPN2
|
8:00-11:44pm
|
0.6
|
1,015
|
| Track & Field: Prefontaine Classic |
5/26
|
NBC
|
4:00-6:00pm
|
n/a
|
972
|
NCAA softball: Super Regional:
Georgia-Tennessee |
5/26
|
ESPN
|
3:40-5:34pm
|
0.6
|
870
|
| "Phenoms" (soccer documentary) |
5/25
|
Fox
|
8:00-9:00pm
|
0.5
|
792
|
| Tennis: French Open: early rounds |
5/27
|
NBC
|
12:00-3:00pm
|
0.5
|
703
|
| Golf: Senior PGA Championship: Third Round |
5/26
|
NBC
|
1:00-4:00pm
|
0.5
|
699
|
| Golf: Senior PGA Championship: Final Round |
5/27
|
NBC
|
3:00-6:00pm
|
0.4
|
576
|
| "Phenoms" (soccer documentary) |
5/25
|
Fox
|
9:00-10:00pm
|
0.3
|
493
|
| Reebok CrossFit Games Regional (taped) |
5/26
|
CBS
|
2:00-3:00pm
|
0.3
|
398
|
