Ratings Roundup: MLB LCS Most Watched Since 2010 Through Day 6; TNT’s Celts-Cavs Opener Opener Draws Big Audience
Story Highlights
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 2017 MLB LCS ranks as the most-watched since 2010 (not counting Game 5 of NLCS), TNT’s Celts-Cavs matchup was the second-most watched NBA opening night telecast ever, we recap Week 6 of the NFL ratings season and Week 7 of college football, and boxing on both ESPN and FS1 draw increased viewership numbers.
2017 MLB LCS Ranks As Most-Watched Since 2010 Through Day 6
Through Day 6 of the MLB League Championship Series (not including Game 5 on Thursday), combined viewership of the ALCS and NLCS, on FOX/FS1 and TBS respectively, is up + 25% (5.93 million) through Day 6 in 2016 (4.74 million). This year ranks as most-watched League Championship Series coverage through Day 6 since 2010 (7.68 million). Viewership for the 2017 Postseason (Wild Cards, Division Series, LCS through Day 6) is up +13% (4.47 million) vs. 2016 (3.94 million)
On the digital side, Through Day 6 of the LCS, fans have opened the MLB.com At Bat mobile app 41.1 million times, a +12% increase over last year. Fans in the U.S. have spent 221 million total minutes using the app to follow this year’s LCS, +10% higher than 2016 (200 million). Overall, during this year’s Postseason, At Bat has been accessed nearly 125 million times (+16%) and accumulated nearly 850 million total minutes (+6%) of digital consumption.
TBS’s coverage of the NLCS – the Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Chicago Cubs – averaged 6.2 million viewers, up 88% over TBS’s 2016 LCS coverage. The Los Angeles market averaged a 13.1 local U.S. HH rating for the five-game NLCS, a 32% increase vs. the Dodgers’ six-game NLCS appearance last season. Overall, 2017 MLB Postseason coverage on TBS averaged 4.6 million viewers, a 44% increase over last year’s comparable LCS telecasts airing on the network. Live streaming coverage of the 2017 MLB Postseason across Turner’s TV Everywhere platforms averaged 7.4 million minutes of consumption per game, up 136% over last year. MLB on TBS studio coverage throughout the 2017 MLB Postseason produced a 37% increase for its pre-game show and 17% bump for its post-game show compared to 2016, based on metered market delivery. (Turner Sports) (UPDATED 10/20/17 at 2:30 p.m. ET)
Game 5 of the ALCS on FS1 averaged 5.253 million viewers, making it the most watched afternoon LCS on cable since 2010. Game 5 delivered 5.588 million viewers across FS1 (5.253M), Fox Deportes (217K), and Fox Sports Go (118K). On FS1, the matchup was up 85% over Game 5 of the 2016 ALCS (2.847M) and up 104% over Game 5 of the 2015 ALCS (2.577M), which ared on Wednesday afternoons. Game 5 peaked from 8:15-8:30 ET with 6.35M viewers. (Fox Sports/Twitter)
TNT’s Celts-Cavs Opener is Second-Most Watched Opening Night Telecast Ever
TNT’s exclusive coverage of 2017 NBA Opening Night – the Boston Celtics vs. Cleveland Cavaliers and Houston Rockets vs. Golden State Warriors – averaged 4.9 million viewers for an increase of 53% over the comparable games last year. The doubleheader netted the network’s most-watched NBA Opening Night coverage since 2010.
The network’s Celtics/Cavs telecast averaged 5.6 million total viewers – up 95% over last year – to rank as the network’s second most-watched Opening Night telecast of all time. The Celtics/Cavs game is TNT’s fifth most-viewed regular season NBA telecast ever. TNT’s Celtics/Cavs telecast peaked with an average of 6.7 million viewers from 10:15-10:30 p.m. ET. Top local markets included Cleveland (20.1 HH rating), Columbus, Ohio (8.3 HH rating) and Boston (7.8 HH rating).
TNT’s Rockets/Warriors telecast averaged 4.2 million viewers, up 22% over the network’s comparable game last year. Locally, the game earned a 14.8 HH rating in San Francisco as the top-ranked metered market.
TNT’s award-winning Inside the NBA studio show averaged a 1.2 HH rating from 1:30-2:30 a.m. ET, up 20% over the network’s comparable telecast last year based on metered market ratings.
Live streaming coverage of NBA Opening Night averaged 8.9 million minutes of consumption, up 43% over last year. The Celtics/Cavs game registered the largest streaming average audience ever for an NBA regular season game on Turner. Opening night content across Turner’s Facebook and Twitter accounts netted 53 million social impressions and six million video views including 250,000 views for live streaming coverage of the Warrior’s ring ceremony on Facebook. (Turner Sports)
The following night, Timberwolves-Spurs had a 1.3 rating and 2.03 million viewers in the season debut of ESPN’s NBA Wednesday, flat in ratings and up 1% in viewership from Rockets-Lakers last year (1.3, 2.00M) but down 19% and 14% respectively from Timberwolves-Lakers in 2015 (1.6, 2.4M). Earlier in the night, Sixers-Wizards had a 1.2 (+20%) and 1.8 million (+16%). (SportsMediaWatch)
Thursday Night Football Overnight Up 5%
THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL on Thursday, Oct. 19 featuring Oakland’s win over Kansas City in Week 7 was seen on an average minute audience basis by 14.9 million viewers across all platforms, including CBS Television Network, NFL Network, Amazon Prime Video, NFL Digital and CBS digital platforms. THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL is produced by CBS Sports. CBS sells and airs the national commercials for CBS THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL games across every platform, creating incremental value and distribution for CBS clients and sponsors. Last night’s telecast on CBS and NFL Network again delivered an increase in viewership. The Kansas City-Oakland game was seen by an average of 14.378 million television viewers, up over last year’s comparable game (14.202 million for Chicago-Green Bay; 10/20/16), according to Nielsen live plus same day national ratings. Television viewership of the Kansas City-Oakland game peaked at 16.494 million viewers from 11:30-11:54 PM, ET.
Overall, THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL continues delivering strong viewership in October averaging 14.786 million viewers across Weeks 5, 6, and 7, which is up +9% versus last year’s comparable three games (13.599 million).
The average digital audience for last night’s THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL game across Amazon Prime Video, NFL Mobile from Verizon, Watch NFL Network, the NFL app on Microsoft, NFL Game Pass (International) and on CBS digital platforms was 492,000.
TNF on CBS and NFL Network won in primetime, handily beating the other networks. CBS/NFL Network’s primetime viewership for Thursday night of 12.930 million was +430% ahead of FOX (2.439 million), +185% ahead of ABC (4.540 million) and+148% ahead of NBC (5.217 million).
In total, CBS and NFL Network’s coverage of the Kansas City-Oakland game was watched in all-or-part by 45.769 million viewers on television, with a minimum of one minute viewed. In total, 2.1 million viewers initiated a stream of THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL across all digital properties.
Amazon Prime Video reached a total of 1.7 million combined viewers worldwide for the NFL Thursday Night Kickoff pregame show and the Kansas City-Oakland game. For the THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL game alone, 1.5 million worldwide viewers initiated a stream on Amazon Prime Video, with each viewer watching an average of 49 minutes. The average worldwide audience watching THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL for at least thirty seconds on Amazon Prime Video was 357,000. (NFL Media)
NFL Week 6 Recap: Ratings Down 18.7% Through Six Weeks
Compared with the first six weeks of the 2015 season, NFL ratings are off 18.7 percent, according to ESPN.
…Through six weeks (seven games), ESPN’s Monday Night Football viewership is averaging 11.2 million viewers, a 6% increase through Week 6, compared with last year. Colts-Titans had a 5.2 rating and 8.38 million viewers on ESPN Monday night, flat in ratings and down a fraction of a percent in viewership from Jets-Cardinals last year (5.2, 8.40M). (ESPN and SMW)…
…Sunday Night Football’s Giants-Broncos delivered a 9.4 rating and 16.2 million viewers on NBC Sunday night, up 16% in ratings and 19% in viewership from Colts-Texans last year (8.1, 13.6M). (SMW)…
…CBS’s Week 6 NFL national window on Sunday, featuring Steelers-Chiefs in 86% of markets, had a 12.0 rating and 20.6 million viewers on CBS Sunday — down 24% in ratings and 26% in viewership from last year on FOX (15.8, 28.0M). (SMW)…
…Fox’s Week 6 NFL singleheader window on Sunday, featuring either Packers-Vikings or Rams-Jaguars in most markets, earned a 9.4 rating and 16.2 million viewers on FOX — down 8% in ratings and 6% in viewership from last year (10.2, 17.2M). (SMW)…
For more in-depth analysis of the NFL’s Week 6 ratings and viewership, check out SportsMediaWatch.com.
College Football Week 7 Recap: ESPN Continues Ratings Run
ESPN’s networks college football week 7 viewership set the pace among all networks as ABC televised the most-watched game of the week and ESPN aired the second and third most-viewed games. Overall, the two networks combined to televise seven of the eight most-watched games in week 7. In addition, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU increased its audience significantly from week 7 of last season. ESPN grew its audience in each of its six game windows and, collectively across those six games, its audience was up 75% year over year. ESPN2 and ESPNU were up 78% and 71% respectively across their entire week 7 schedule.
Michigan at Indiana (noon ET, ABC) delivered a total live audience of 4,210,000 viewers, the most-viewed game of the week across all networks and the most-watched noon game of the 2017 season across all networks. ESPN’s telecasts of Arkansas at Alabama (7:15 p.m.) and Oklahoma vs. Texas (3:30 p.m.) were the second and third most-watched games of the week across all networks.
The Razorbacks-Crimson Tide game drew a Nielsen total live audience of 3,866,000 viewers, marking the second consecutive week an ESPN telecast was the second most-watched game of the week across all networks. This week, the ESPN telecast was the most-watched in prime-time and now seven weeks into the season, combined with Saturday Night Football, ESPN and ABC have aired the most-watched prime time game in all seven weeks of the season. The audience for the Crimson Tide’s victory was also up 52% year-over-year (Ole Miss at Arkansas)
The Red River Showdown featuring Oklahoma vs. Texas (3:30 p.m.) from Dallas drew 3,619,000 viewers, notably the most-watched game in its timeslot this week and ESPN’s most-watched Saturday afternoon game of the season. On ESPN, the traditional Oklahoma-Texas game was up 277% year-over-year (Wake Forest at Florida State) and was up 30% from last year’s Sooners-Longhorns game which aired on FS1.
ABC’s late afternoon window of Georgia Tech at Miami (3:30 p.m.) and Saturday Night Football featuring Utah at USC (8 p.m.) earned a total live audience of 3,441,000 viewers and 3,236,000 viewers, respectively, each among the most-watched games of the week across all networks
Clemson at Syracuse (7 p.m., ESPN) is ESPN’s most-watched Friday night telecast of the season, drawing a Nielsen total live audience of 2,853,000 viewers. The Orange’s upset of then-No. 2 Clemson was up 52% from last year’s similar game (Duke at Louisville). Combined with Washington State at Cal, ESPN averaged 2,568,000 for its Friday doubleheader, the most-watched doubleheader in at least the last two years. The Cougars-Golden Bears matchup on its own drew a Nielsen total live audience of 2,261,000 viewers, up 53% year over year (Mississippi State at BYU).
Texas A&M at Florida (7 p.m.) was ESPN2’s largest viewership of the season, drawing a Nielsen total live audience of 2,112,000 viewers, up 365% year over year (Tulsa vs. Houston). Washington at Arizona State (10:45 p.m., ESPN) was the most-watched Saturday final game window (10 p.m. or later) of the season on all cable networks, earning a Nielsen total live audience of 2,277,000 viewers. The Pac-12 game was up 74% over 2016 (UCLA at Washington State). Texas Tech at West Virginia (noon) was ESPNU’s second-most watched game in the last two seasons, drawing a total live audience of 875,000 viewers. The Big 12 game was up 174% from the similar game in 2016 (Minnesota at Maryland). South Carolina at Tennessee (noon, ESPN) drew 2,532,000 viewers, up 43% year-over-year (Kansas State at Oklahoma).
Top Rank on ESPN debuted July 1 when Manny Pacquiao met Jeff Horn down under in Brisbane, Australia, resulting in the most-watched boxing telecast on cable television since 2006 and ESPN has continued to see solid numbers since. Top Rank on ESPN telecasts have averaged 1.6 million viewers across ESPN and ESPN Deportes, including 1.9 million viewers during the main event fight windows. Top Rank on ESPN telecasts have been the three most-watched boxing telecasts on cable in 2017. Top Rank’s debut fight on ESPN–Pacquiao vs. Horn–was the most-watched boxing fight on cable since 2006 (2.8 million viewers) and the highest-rated fight on ESPN since 1995. The five most-streamed boxing telecasts on ESPN networks ever were all Top Rank telecasts. From July through September, daily unique visitors to ESPN’s boxing digital content is up 484% compared to the same period in 2016. Out of Home viewership has provided a significant +15% lift to the Top Rank on ESPN audience.. By comparison, ESPN has averaged a total day OOH lift of +9%. Top Rank’s OOH lifts are especially strong for P18-34 (+21% lift) and Hispanics (+18% lift).
Top Rank on ESPN is also seeing success with Hispanic and Multicultural Fans. All four fights (7/1, 8/5, 8/19, 9/22) were the top Hispanic telecast of the day on ESPN and three of the four were the highest-rated telecast for the network overall on that day. To date, 59% of the Top Rank on ESPN audience on ESPN and ESPN2 has been multicultural (1.6 times more than the ESPN average). Additionally, 19% of the ESPN and ESPN2 audience has been Hispanic (2.5 times greater than the ESPN average). In the average minute, about 400,000 Hispanic viewers are tuning in to Top Rank on ESPN across ESPN and ESPN Deportes. ESPN has averaged 300,000 Hispanic viewers. (ESPN)
PBC on FOX Title Fights Draw 1.4+ Million Viewers
Saturday’s Premier Boxing Champions on FOX, featuring two title fights, peaked with 2,263,000 million viewers from 7:30 PM ET – 7:45 PM ET on Saturday. Featherweight world champions Leo Santa Cruz and Abner Mares were both victorious in title fights from StubHub Center in Carson, Calif., officially setting up a 2018 world championship rematch between the two popular southern California champions. The full card, featuring three bouts from 7:30 PM ET – 10:00 PM ET, averaged a 1.2/2 rating, with 1,483,000 million viewers. Viewership was up +67% vs. FOX’s last PBC event that aired July 15, 2017 (886,000 viewers). Among Adults 18-49, Saturday’s fight card was +85% better than last July’s PBC event on FOX (494,000 vs. 267,000). Top markets on Saturday included Houston (2.9/6), New Orleans (2.4/4) and Tulsa (2.0/3). On FOX Deportes, the fight brought in 68,000 viewers, making it the fourth-most watched PBC event to date on the network. (Fox Sports)
