Audience Analysis: Biles Boosts NBC For Gymnastics Championships
NBC on Sunday night averaged 3.07 million viewers for the women's finals of the U.S. Gymnastics Championships from 8:00-10:00pm ET, as Simone Biles captured the U.S. all-around title. That marks the best viewership for a non-Olympic year since '07, when the event drew 3.95 million viewers. Last year, the event drew 2.88 million viewers from 7:00-9:00pm. This year's men's championships, held on Saturday afternoon from 4:30-6:00pm, drew 894,000 viewers on NBC. That number is also up from 755,000 viewers last year.
CLASH OF THE TITANS: Saturday's Arsenal-Chelsea EPL match drew a total audience delivery of 1.14 million viewers on NBC (1.07 million TV-only), marking the second-most-watched August game on record. Saturday's match was only behind a Manchester United-Hull City match from August '16 (1.21 million TAD, 1.16 million TV-only).
WANNA BE A BALLER: Fox averaged 760,000 viewers for three Big3 playoff games on Friday, airing live beginning at 8:00pm. The comparable games last year were on tape and drew 118,000 viewers on FS1. Season to date through nine telecasts, Fox and FS1 are averaging 395,000 viewers for the Big3, up from 191,000 last year on FS1.
MAGIC 8 BALL: During ESPN’s “The Ocho” day on Aug. 8, the top event (excluding “Dodgeball” the movie) in terms of average minute audience on WatchESPN was the Dodgeball World Cup (8:00pm ET). That was followed by Chess Boxing (5:00pm) and Moxie Games (6:00pm).
The chart below lists final audience figures from select recent sports telecasts.
| TELECAST |
DATE
|
NET
|
TIME (ET)
|
RATING
|
VIEWERS
(000) |
| U.S. Gymnastics Championships (Women's) |
8/19
|
NBC
|
8:00-10:00pm
|
1.9
|
3,075
|
| PGA Tour: Wyndham Championship: Final Round |
8/19
|
CBS
|
3:00-6:00pm
|
1.8
|
2,646
|
| NFL preseason: Jets-Redskins |
8/16
|
ESPN
|
8:00-11:02pm
|
1.6
|
2,562
|
| Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series: Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race (Bristol) |
8/18
|
NBCSN
|
6:52-9:54pm
|
1.4
|
2,326
|
| NFL preseason: Bengals-Cowboys |
8/18
|
NFL Net
|
7:03-10:06pm
|
1.0
|
1,632
|
| MLB: Mets-Phillies |
8/19
|
ESPN
|
7:00-10:24pm
|
1.0
|
1,631
|
| MLB: Mets-Yankees |
8/13
|
ESPN
|
7:00-10:28pm
|
1.0
|
1,523
|
| NFL preseason: Raiders-Rams |
8/18
|
NFL Net
|
4:00-6:56pm
|
0.9
|
1,476
|
| Little League World Series: pool play: Hawaii-Michigan |
8/19
|
ABC
|
2:00-5:00pm
|
0.9
|
1,411
|
| Little League World Series: pool play: Iowa-Rhode Island |
8/18
|
ABC
|
3:00-5:30pm
|
0.9
|
1,327
|
| NFL preseason: Bills-Browns |
8/17
|
NFL Net
|
7:30-10:34pm
|
n/a
|
1,323
|
| Little League World Series: pool play: Texas-New York |
8/19
|
ESPN
|
11:06am-1:01pm
|
0.9
|
1,259
|
| Little League World Series: pool play: Japan-Panama |
8/19
|
ESPN
|
1:01-3:14pm
|
0.8
|
1,256
|
| PGA Tour: Wyndham Championship: Third Round |
8/18
|
CBS
|
3:00-6:00pm
|
0.8
|
1,254
|
| Little League World Series: pool play: Hawaii-Georgia |
8/17
|
ESPN
|
8:37-11:56pm
|
n/a
|
1,191
|
| NASCAR Camping World Truck Series: UNOH 200 (Bristol) |
8/16
|
Fox
|
8:36-10:29pm
|
0.7
|
1,086
|
| EPL: Chelsea-Arsenal |
8/18
|
NBC
|
12:30-2:30pm
|
0.7
|
1,073
|
| PBR: Music City Knockout |
8/19
|
CBS
|
1:00-3:00pm
|
0.7
|
947
|
| U.S. Gymnastics Championships (Men's) |
8/18
|
NBC
|
4:30-6:00pm
|
0.6
|
894
|
| Liga MX: Queretaro-Club America |
8/18
|
Univision
|
9:55pm-12:00am
|
0.4
|
796
|
| Big 3 (playoffs) |
8/17
|
Fox
|
8:00-11:21pm
|
0.5
|
760
|
| Track & Field: IAAF Diamond League (taped) |
8/18
|
NBC
|
3:00-4:30pm
|
0.5
|
691
|
| Golf: U.S. Amateur: Semifinals |
8/18
|
Fox
|
12:00-3:00pm
|
0.4
|
648
|
| AVP: Manhattan Beach Open |
8/19
|
NBC
|
4:30-6:00pm
|
0.4
|
620
|
| "World of X Games" |
8/19
|
ABC
|
1:00-2:00pm
|
0.4
|
583
|
| Golf: U.S. Amateur: Championship |
8/19
|
Fox
|
4:30-6:00pm
|
0.4
|
551
|
| Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series (taped) |
8/18
|
CBS
|
2:00-3:00pm
|
0.4
|
532
|
| Liga MX: Pachuca-Lobos |
8/18
|
Univision
|
7:55-9:55pm
|
0.3
|
448
|
| Red Bull Signature Series (taped) |
8/19
|
Fox
|
3:00-4:30pm
|
0.3
|
405
|
