Ratings Roundup: PGA Championship Hits Five-Year High for CBS; ESPN Scores Second-Best MLS All-Star Rating Ever

An estimated 30.9 million viewers (Persons 2+) watched all-or-part of CBS Sports’ two-day coverage of the 2014 PGA Championship according to Nielsen Media Research, up 30% from last year’s 23.8 million; and up 42% from 21.8 million in 2012 when Rory McIlroy won his first PGA Championship.  The 30.9 million was the highest number of viewers to watch all-or-part of the Network’s weekend coverage in five years (2009; 35.7 million).

CBS’s Final round coverage on Sunday was viewed in all-or-part by an estimated total audience of 26.3 million (Person 2+), up 48% from last year’s 17.8 million; and up 58% from 2012’s 16.6 million. Final Round coverage (3:00-9:00 p.m. ET) earned an average household rating/share of 6.0/13, up 36% from last year’s 4.4/10 in the Nielsen metered markets. This year’s final-round rating peaked with a 9.2/17 from 8:00-8:30 PM, ET. This year’s 26.3 million marks the highest number of viewers to watch all-or-part of the Network’s PGA Championship Sunday coverage in five years (2009; 29.0 million; Y.E. Yang won with Tiger Woods finishing second) and is the highest-rated final round in five years (2009; 7.5/17). CBS Sports’ final-round rating also was up 54% from 2012’s 3.9/8 when McIlroy won his first PGA Championship.

CBS Sports’ coverage of the third round of the 2014 PGA Championship on Saturday was viewed in all-or-part by a total audience of 12.9 million. it was the highest-rated third round in five years with an average HH rating/share of 3.2/8, up 7% from last year’s 3.0/8 in the metered markets.  This year’s third-round rating peaked with a 3.8/10 from 5:00-5:30 PM, ET…

…ESPN2 drew 862,000 viewers for the MLS All-Stars’ win over Bayern Munich on Aug. 6, marking the game’s best audience since ’04, when it drew 1.07 million viewers on ABC. The telecast on Wednesday outdrew both MLS ASGs featuring Manchester United in ’11 (781,000 viewers) and ’10 (714,000 viewers). Last year’s game featuring AS Roma drew 319,000 viewers, while the ’12 match against Chelsea drew 530,000 viewers. Meanwhile, UniMas drew another 410,000 viewers for the match, for a combined audience of 1.27 million viewers. That figure is the second-best for the MLS ASG all-time, behind only ’11, which drew 1.45 million viewers. (SportsBusinessDaily)…

…NBCSN’s presentation of the IndyCar Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio on Aug. 2 averaged 386,000 viewers, up 98% from the same race in 2013 (195,000 average viewers). Overall, NBCSN’s coverage of the 2014 Verizon IndyCar Series through nine races has drawn 398,000 average viewers, up 38% from the 2013 season average viewership through nine races on NBCSN (289,000)…

…The NFL Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony drew approximately 1.1 million viewers across ESPN2 and NFL Network, down 6% from last year (1.2M). The ESPN2 telecast drew a 0.5 and 718,000 viewers — flat in ratings and up 3% in viewership from last year (0.5, 698K). NFL Network drew a 0.3 and 383,000, flat and down 20%, respectively, from last year (0.3, 477K). (SportsMediaWatch)…

…The Yankees/Red Sox Sunday Night Baseball game on Aug. 2 drew a 1.5 U.S. rating and 2.2 million viewers on ESPN, up 36% in ratings and 44% in viewership from Braves/Phillies last year (1.1, 1.6M). Despite the big increase, the game trailed the rivals’ two previous Sunday night meetings this season (2.8M on April 13 and 2.6M on June 29). (SportsMediaWatch)…

…Fox drew 726,000 viewers for the ManU-Real Madrid match as part of the Guinness Int’l Champions Cup last Saturday, up from the net’s 555,000 viewers for ManU-AS Roma on July 26. Last year, Fox had only one ICC match, drawing 990,000 viewers for Real Madrid-Everton. (SportsBusinessDaily)

…FS West on Thursday night once again drew a season-best audience for an Angels game. The finale of the Freeway Series drew a 4.74 local rating in L.A., compared to a 1.0 on SportsNet LA (home to the Dodgers). (SportsBusinessDaily)…

…Sportsman Channel’s Aporkalypse 2014, in the third season of what began as a one-night stunt two years ago, has progressed to a week of programming that delivered year-over-year ratings success. Sportsman’s Aporkalypse 2014 marathon programming helped the network increase its ratings in households (up +119%), M25-54 (up +170) and M18-49 (up +142%) compared to the same week in 2013. Heli-Hunter started the programming week and was the No. 1-ranked show among mid-sized networks in the coveted M25-54 and M18-49 demos on August 4.