Back on the West Coast, and in primetime, the US Open got off to a stronger start than a year ago. Plus: Yankee rivalry games are moving the needle as usual; FOX averaged fewer viewers for NASCAR this season; and more.
US Open gets customary West Coast lift
Primetime U.S. Open coverage averaged a 1.3 rating and 2.26 million viewers on NBC Thursday night (2.4 million including Peacock), up a tick in ratings and 23% in viewership from an afternoon window last year (1.2, 1.84M). This year’s touranment is taking place on the West Coast, allowing for primetime coverage. Viewership was on par with the comparable primetime window two years ago, the previous West Coast edition.
USA Network’s seven hours of coverage averaged 1.18 million (+42%) and Peacock’s exclusive morning window chipped in 214,000 — making it NBC’s most-streamed golf telecast.
Yankee rivalry games deliver top audiences of season
With both featuring Red Sox-Yankees, MLB on FOX and ESPN Sunday Night Baseball hit season-highs last weekend with an average of 2.56 and 1.94 million viewers respectively. Another Yankee rivalry game — against the Mets Wednesday night — delivered ESPN’s second-largest audience this season with 1.90 million.
Wednesday’s game won the night in adults 18-34 and 18-49. ESPN’s MLB viewership this season (through Sunday) is up seven percent.
NASCAR down on Fox; Sonoma hits high in return to broadcast
The Fox Sports portion of the NASCAR Cup Series season averaged 3.32 million viewers, down 10% from last year (3.69M). That average includes the Coca-Cola 600, which was run on Memorial Day due to rain.
Last weekend’s Sonoma race averaged a 1.7 rating and 2.91 million viewers, up 27 and 30 percent respectively from last year on FS1 (1.3, 2.24M) and the most-watched edition of the race since 2017 (3.24M). It had not aired on broadcast television since 2006 (also on FOX).
Plus: USMNT-Mexico, WNBA, UFC, Walton doc
- Thursday’s United States-Mexico Concacaf Nations League semifinal averaged a 1.1 rating and 2.29 million viewers on Univision, up from the rivals’ previous match, the Continental Classic on Telemundo (1.52M) and TNT (437K) in April. The match dominated the night on television in the key adult demographics of 18-49 (0.8), 18-34 (0.6) and 25-54 (0.9).
- ABC averaged the third and fourth-largest audiences of the WNBA season last weekend with 666,000 for Mystics-Storm and 660,000 for Wings-Liberty. A pair of opening weekend games hold the top two spots (Aces-Storm: 684K; Mercury-Sparks: 683K). Already, five games have crossed the 600,000 viewer mark — more than four all of last season.
- UFC 289 prelims averaged a 0.49 rating and 999,000 viewers on ESPN last weekend, up 17% from the previous PPV prelims last month (853K).
- Parts three and four of the ESPN 30 For 30 Bill Walton documentary “The Luckiest Guy in the World” averaged 322,000 and 317,000 viewers Tuesday night, down more than a third from parts one and two the prior week (494K and 491K).
(Nielsen estimates from Programming Insider 6.16, ShowBuzz Daily 6.13, 6.16)
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