Red Sox-Yankees this past weekend was a boon for a few networks. The series finale delivered 2.21 million viewers on ESPN, marking the second-best “Sunday Night Baseball” figure this season to date (behind only the same matchup the weekend prior). ESPN has one more Yankees-Red Sox game left on its “SNB” slate (Sept. 8). Meanwhile, FS1 on Saturday afternoon drew 587,000 viewers for the matchup -- its third-best MLB game audience this season to date. The Friday night tilt was MLB Network’s top game of the season to date (471,000 viewers). The game also helped MLB Network to its most-viewed week of ’19 to date (118,000 viewers on total-day basis). Those numbers come on the heels of MLB Net having its best July primetime numbers on record (198,000 viewers).
TALE OF TWO LANGUAGES: Weather and competition with a Democratic presidential debate on CNN contributed to what is likely the least-watched MLS All-Star Game on record for English-language TV. FS1 last Wednesday drew 182,000 viewers for the game against Atletico Madrid, down 61% from the matchup against Juventus last year on ESPN. On Spanish-language TV, this year’s game drew 629,000 viewers on UniMas and TUDN, marking the third-best MLS ASG on record for Univision networks and up 26% from last year.
FAME & FORTUNE: NBC drew a total audience delivery of 5.4 million viewers for the HOF Game featuring Broncos-Falcons last Thursday. Excluding when the game was on NFL Network in ’12 and ’07, that is the lowest figure for the HOF Game since ’97, when ABC drew 4.9 million for Vikings-Seahawks. NBC was down from 6.8 million viewers for Bears-Ravens in the game last year.
NOTES: Fox and FS1 are averaging 572,000 viewers for 16 NHRA telecasts this season to date, down 13% from the same point last season….The X Games averaged 413,000 viewers across ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 last week (five TV telecasts). That is down 19% from last year’s six telecasts across the same networks, but up 7% from two years ago, when ESPN2 did not carry any telecasts….The annual dirt race for the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series from Eldora was down 15% on FS1 this year. The race drew 498,000 viewers on Thursday night up against the Broncos-Falcons HOF game. Last year, on a Wednesday night without NFL competition, the race drew 587,000 viewers.
The chart below lists viewership figures for select recent sports telecasts.
| TELECAST |
DATE
|
NET
|
TIME (ET)
|
RAT.
|
VIEWERS
(000)
|
| Pro Football HOF Game: Broncos-Falcons |
8/1
|
NBC
|
8:10-11:00pm
|
3.4
|
5,346
|
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series:
Go Bowling at The Glen |
8/4
|
NBCSN
|
3:27-5:46pm
|
1.7
|
2,722
|
| MLB: Red Sox-Yankees |
8/4
|
ESPN
|
8:15-11:33pm
|
1.4
|
2,206
|
| PGA Tour: Wyndham Championship: final round |
8/4
|
CBS
|
3:00-6:30pm
|
1.2
|
1,774
|
| NASCAR Xfinity Series: Zippo 200 at The Glen |
8/3
|
NBC
|
3:35-6:00pm
|
1.0
|
1,468
|
| PGA Tour: Wyndham Championship: third round |
8/3
|
CBS
|
3:00-6:00pm
|
0.9
|
1,455
|
Premier Boxing Champions:
Adam Kownacki d. Chris Arreola |
8/3
|
Fox
|
8:00-10:55pm
|
0.8
|
1,301
|
| Golf: AIG Women's British Open: final round |
8/4
|
NBC
|
11:30am-2:00pm
|
0.9
|
1,186
|
| MLB: Cubs-Cardinals |
7/31
|
ESPN
|
8:00-11:31pm
|
0.6
|
1,049
|
| Liga MX: Tijuana-Club America |
8/3
|
Univision
|
7:55-10:05pm
|
0.5
|
947
|
| Swimming: Phillips 66 U.S. Championships (taped) |
8/4
|
NBC
|
4:00-6:00pm
|
0.6
|
882
|
| MLB: Braves-Nationals |
7/29
|
ESPN
|
7:00-10:35pm
|
0.6
|
819
|
Women's volleyball: Olympic
qualifying: U.S.-Argentina |
8/4
|
NBC
|
2:00-4:00pm
|
0.5
|
766
|
NHRA Mello Yello Series:
Northwest Nationals (Seattle) |
8/4
|
Fox
|
4:00-7:00pm
|
0.5
|
714
|
| Golf: AIG Women's British Open: third round |
8/3
|
NBC
|
11:00am-2:00pm
|
0.5
|
702
|
| Swimming: Phillips 66 U.S. Championships (taped) |
8/3
|
NBC
|
2:00-3:00pm
|
0.5
|
680
|
| UFC Fight Night: Colby Covington d. Robbie Lawler |
8/3
|
ESPN
|
3:20-6:10pm
|
0.5
|
680
|
| X Games |
8/4
|
ABC
|
1:00-6:00pm
|
0.4
|
648
|
| MLS All-Star Game |
7/31
|
UniMas
|
8:34-10:40pm
|
0.3
|
629
|
| MLB: Red Sox-Yankees |
8/3
|
FS1
|
1:00-3:49pm
|
0.4
|
587
|
| X Games |
8/3
|
ABC
|
1:00-6:00pm
|
0.4
|
570
|
| Basketball: Big3 (Chicago) |
8/3
|
CBS
|
1:00-3:00pm
|
0.4
|
555
|
| UFC Fight Night prelims |
8/3
|
ESPN
|
12:00-3:20pm
|
0.4
|
523
|
| F1: Hungarian Grand Prix |
8/4
|
NBCSN
|
9:05-11:31am
|
0.3
|
520
|
| MLS: Galaxy-Atlanta United |
8/3
|
Fox
|
5:00-7:15pm
|
0.3
|
500
|
NASCAR Gander Outdoors
Truck Series: Eldora Dirt Derby |
8/1
|
FS1
|
8:53-11:13pm
|
0.3
|
498
|
| MLB: Brewers-Cubs |
8/4
|
TBS
|
2:00-5:31pm
|
0.3
|
493
|
| German Super Cup: Bayern Munich-Dortmund |
8/3
|
Fox
|
2:15-4:45pm
|
0.3
|
401
|
