Ratings Roundup: Solheim Cup Most-Watched Women’s Tourney Since 2009; Yanks-Sox Best on YES Since 2014

Ratings roundup is a rundown of ratings news from the past week and is derived from press releases and reports around the industry. In this week’s edition, the Solheim Cup on Golf Channel was the most watched women’s golf telecast on cable in eight years, NBC Sports’ NASCAR Cup Series telecasts have ranked as the most-watched sporting event on six of the past eight weekends, The Aug. 18 Yankees-Red Sox game on YES was the highest-rated on any NY RSN since 2014, and Real Madrid-Barcelona delivers ESPN’s most-watched supercopa de España since 2012.

Solheim Cup on Golf Channel: Most Watched Women’s Golf Telecast on Cable in Eight Years
With the Solheim Cup returning to broadcast television for the first time in 15 years, Golf Channel and NBC’s coverage of the 2017 Solheim Cup delivered record viewership for the networks.

Golf Channel’s Final Day of live Solheim Cup coverage on Sunday (10:30 a.m.-4:10 p.m. ET) delivered a .52 U.S. HH rating and 795,000 viewers, the most watched women’s golf telecast on cable since the 2009 Solheim Cup Final Day on Golf Channel (956,000 viewers). Coverage was +250% vs. 2015 (227,000 viewers) and +23% vs. 2013 (646,000 viewers). Coverage peaked from 2:30-2:45 p.m. ET with a .83 U.S. HH rating and 1.259 million viewers.

NBC’s Saturday coverage (4-6 p.m. ET) was the most-watched women’s golf Saturday telecast in 2017 with a .68 U.S. HH rating and 968,000 viewers. Compared to the last two hours of women’s majors on network television in 2017, Saturday’s Solheim Cup coverage was +24% vs. RICOH Women’s British Open, +39% vs. the U.S. Women’s Open and +35% vs. the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. Coverage peaked from 5:45-6 p.m. ET with a .85 U.S. HH rating and 1.240 million viewers. Golf Channel and NBC’s combined coverage of Saturday’s Day 2 at the Solheim Cup (8 a.m.-6:50 p.m. ET) was the most-watched Day 2 in 15 years, generating a combined .45 U.S. HH rating and 641,000 viewers; +211% vs. 2015 (Germany, 206,000 viewers); +11% vs. 2013 (Colorado, 579,000 viewers) and +10% vs. 2009 (Illinois, 581,000 viewers).

Golf Channel’s televised Friday coverage of the Solheim Cup (9 a.m.-2:04 p.m. ET / 4:04-8:08 p.m. ET) delivered the most-watched Day 1 of the Solheim Cup on-record (2007-2017). Coverage generated a .26 U.S. HH rating and 368,000 viewers, +145% vs. 2015 (Germany, 150,000 viewers); +19% vs. 2013 (Colorado, 309,000 viewers) and +14% vs. 2009 (Illinois, 322,000 viewers).

In total, 7.30 million unique viewers tuned in to some portion of coverage of the Solheim Cup across three days on Golf Channel and NBC. Compared to traditional four days of coverage at major championships, most-viewed women’s golf event since the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open on ESPN/NBC (9.77 million viewers across four days of coverage).

Three-day coverage of the Solheim Cup saw 6.3 million minutes streamed across NBC Sports’ Digital platforms, trailing only the 2016 Rio Olympics (9 million) as the most-ever for a women’s golf event airing on Golf Channel / NBC. 

Yankees/Red Sox on YES Earns Highest NY RSN Rating Since 2014
The Aug. 18 Yankees-Red Sox game on YES averaged 571,000 Total Viewers, a 5.78 TV Household rating and 424,000 TV Households.  It was the highest-rated, most-viewed and most-watched regional sports network game telecast in the New York DMA since YES’ September 25, 2014 Orioles-Yankees game telecast, Derek Jeter’s last game at Yankee Stadium.  That September 25, 2014 telecast averaged a 10.84 TV Household rating.

Excluding that September 25, 2014 game, the Aug. 18 game was the highest-rated and most-viewed New York RSN program since YES’ Red Sox-Yankees game on October 3, 2012.

The telecast peaked during the 9:45-10:00 pm ET quarter-hour, when it did a 7.09 TV Household rating (702,000 Total Viewers; 521,000 Households). Gary Sanchez hit his solo homer at 9:43 ET when he led off the top of the seventh inning (tying the game at 3-3), an inning which ultimately saw the Yankees score a total of four runs.

It was #1 television program in the New York DMA in: TV Household rating, Total Viewers, TV Households; Males 18+; Males 18-49; Males 25-54; and other demos. YES was the highest-rated and most-watched network (cable or broadcast) in the NY DMA for 16 consecutive quarter hours.

YES’ telecast was the highest-rated, most-watched and most-viewed Yankees-Red Sox game since the aforementioned October 3, 2012 game.

Primetime Yankees games on YES this season have ranked #1 in the New York DMA in 26 of the past 30 game nights in various key demos.

NASCAR Heads into NASCAR Playoffs With Momentum
Through the first two months of NBC and NBCSN’s live race coverage, NBC Sports Group’s telecasts of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series have ranked as the most-watched sporting event on six of eight weekends – up from two of eight last year, and one of eight in 2015. Beginning with NBC Sports Group’s 2017 NASCAR on NBC season debut from Daytona International Speedway, and continuing through this past weekend’s Cup Series broadcast from Bristol Motor Speedway, all three NASCAR Cup Series races broadcast on NBC (Daytona, Indianapolis, Bristol) have won the weekend, and three races telecast on NBCSN (New Hampshire, Pocono, Watkins Glen) have ranked as the most-watched sporting event of the weekend. Through eight races this season, NBC Sports Group’s 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series live race coverage is averaging more than 4 million viewers and a 2.40 US HH rating, +11% in both metrics, from the same eight races last year (3.6 million / 2.16).

All five Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races telecast on NBCSN this season have ranked as the most-watched sporting event of the weekend on cable.

NBC Sports’ coverage of this year’s NASCAR XFINITY Series race from Iowa Speedway averaged 1.7 million viewers and delivered a 1.14 HH rating, making it the highest-rated NBC Sports Group XFINITY Series race since 2015 (Homestead 1.21).

NASCAR America, NBCSN’s daily motorsports show, is averaging 103,000 viewers, +14% vs. 2016.

For the 2017 NASCAR on NBC season to date (8 race weekends), there have been a total of 487K unique devices and 59.2M live minutes streamed, +41% and +37%, respectively, vs. 2016. 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series streaming on NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app is on pace to be the most-streamed season ever for NASCAR on NBC coverage.