Fox averaged 1.68 million viewers for Dustin Poirier’s win over Eddie Alvarez on Saturday night, marking the least-viewed UFC card yet on the broadcast net (dating back to signing the deal in late ’11). The previous low came in January this year (1.77 million) for Ronaldo Souza’s win over Derek Brunson. Saturday’s fight also is down 18% from 2.05 million viewers in the same window last year, when Chris Weidman defeated Kelvin Gastelum. Meanwhile, leading into the main event on Fox, the net averaged 939,000 viewers for prelims, down 17% from the same window in ’17. While down overall, Saturday's broadcast did rank first in broadcast primetime TV with adults and men aged 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54.
WATCH & LEARN: The Overwatch League Grand Finals averaged a total audience delivery of 289,000 viewers on U.S. linear and digital properties last Friday and Saturday. That includes live coverage on ESPN, Disney XD, WatchESPN, Twitch and MLG, as well as replays on ESPN2, ABC and the aforementioned digital services. Among those 289,000 viewers, an estimated 45% (130,000 viewers) fell into the 18-34 demo. For Friday’s opener of the Grand Finals, ESPN alone averaged 188,000 TV viewers from 7:00-9:08pm ET. On Sunday, ABC averaged 328,000 TV viewers for the Day 2 re-air. Globally, OWL officials said its total audience was just over 861,000 viewers, a number that includes three Chinese digital distributors and Twitch numbers outside the U.S.
NOTES: NBCSN averaged 2.75 million viewers for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race from Pocono on Sunday afternoon, marking the best sports telecast last weekend, but also down 25% from last year’s same race....NBCSN also drew 485,000 viewers for the last stage of the Tour de France on Sunday, up 11% from ’17.
The chart below lists final audience figures from select recent sports telecasts.
| TELECAST |
DATE
|
NET
|
TIME (ET)
|
RAT.
|
VIEWERS
(000)
|
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series:
Gander Outdoors 400 (Pocono) |
7/29
|
NBCSN
|
2:58-6:13pm
|
1.7
|
2,749
|
| PGA Tour: RBC Canadian Open: Final Round* |
7/29
|
CBS
|
3:00-7:00pm
|
1.4
|
2,067
|
| PGA Tour: RBC Canadian Open: Third Round |
7/28
|
CBS
|
3:00-6:00pm
|
1.3
|
1,855
|
| UFC on Fox 30: Dustin Poirier d. Eddie Alvarez |
7/28
|
Fox
|
8:00-10:22pm
|
1.0
|
1,678
|
| MLB: Cubs-Cardinals |
7/29
|
ESPN
|
9:22pm-12:17am
|
1.0
|
1,515
|
| Golf: Senior Open Championship: Final Round |
7/29
|
NBC
|
12:00-2:00pm
|
0.8
|
1,244
|
| U.S. Gymnastics Classic (taped) |
7/29
|
NBC
|
2:00-3:00pm
|
0.7
|
1,073
|
| Golf: Senior Open Championship: Third Round |
7/28
|
NBC
|
12:00-2:15pm
|
0.7
|
980
|
Horse Racing: Breeders' Cup Challenge Series:
Haskell Invitational |
7/29
|
NBC
|
5:00-6:00pm
|
0.6
|
946
|
| UFC on Fox prelims |
7/28
|
Fox
|
6:00-8:00pm
|
0.6
|
939
|
| U.S. Swimming Championships (taped) |
7/29
|
NBC
|
3:00-5:00pm
|
0.6
|
920
|
| Liga MX: Chivas-Cruz Azul |
7/28
|
Univision
|
10:00pm-12:23am
|
0.5
|
823
|
NASCAR Xfinity Series:
U.S. Cellular 250 (Iowa) |
7/28
|
NBCSN
|
5:44-8:18pm
|
0.5
|
815
|
| NHRA Mello Yello Series (Sonoma) |
7/29
|
Fox
|
4:00-7:00pm
|
0.5
|
750
|
| WNBA All-Star Game |
7/28
|
ABC
|
3:30-6:00pm
|
0.5
|
709
|
| Liga MX: Club America-Atlas |
7/28
|
Univision
|
7:55-10:00pm
|
0.4
|
706
|
| U.S. Swimming Championships (taped) |
7/28
|
NBC
|
3:00-5:00pm
|
0.5
|
682
|
| Boxing: Mikey Garcia d. Robert Easter |
7/28
|
Showtime
|
11:45pm-12:36am
|
0.4
|
680
|
| Major League Fishing (taped) |
7/28
|
CBS
|
2:00-3:00pm
|
0.5
|
669
|
Verizon IndyCar Series:
Honda Indy 200 (Mid-Ohio) |
7/29
|
NBCSN
|
6:30-8:30pm
|
0.4
|
644
|
| Rodeo: "Days of '47" |
7/29
|
CBS
|
1:00-2:00pm
|
0.5
|
632
|
| Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series qualifying |
7/28
|
NBCSN
|
4:00-5:00pm
|
0.4
|
615
|
| Tough Mudder X: Richmond (taped) |
7/28
|
CBS
|
1:00-2:00pm
|
0.4
|
610
|
| MLB: D-backs-Cubs |
7/23
|
ESPN
|
8:00-11:04pm
|
n/a
|
609
|
| Tour de France: Stage 20 (taped) |
7/28
|
NBC
|
5:00-6:00pm
|
0.5
|
558
|
PGA Tour: RBC Canadian Open:
Final Round (early) |
7/29
|
Golf
Channel
|
12:58-2:45pm
|
0.4
|
550
|
| Tour de France: Stage 21 |
7/29
|
NBCSN
|
10:01am-2:01pm
|
0.3
|
485
|
| MLB: Cubs-Cardinals |
7/28
|
FS1
|
4:00-7:00pm
|
0.3
|
463
|
| "Overwatch League Grand Finals Recap" |
7/29
|
ABC
|
3:00-5:00pm
|
0.2
|
328
|
NOTES: * = Figures exclude rain delay from 3:30-5:15pm ET. Final round also finished on Golf Channel (last 26 minutes).
