TV ratings for sports other than hockey

[Kirk Van Houten]

Packers-49ers, Texans-Ravens, set 30-year marks Saturday

The latest thrilling chapter of the Packers-49ers rivalry delivered a historic Saturday night audience on FOX.

www.sportsmediawatch.com

Saturday’s Packers-49ers NFC Divisional Round game averaged 37.5 million viewers, per Nielsen fast-nationals, marking the largest Saturday television audience on any network in 30 years — since the Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding-fueled 1994 Lillehammer Winter Olympics on CBS. The previous high was 36.9 million for the same 49ers-Packers matchup in the Divisional Round two years ago.

Keep in mind that out-of-home viewing was not tracked in Nielsen final nationals prior to 2020 (or measured at all prior to 2016). A number of Saturday games from playoffs past — including Ravens-Broncos in 2013 (35.28M), Saints-49ers in 2012 (35.60M), and even a New Year’s Eve Chiefs-Dolphins Wild Card game in 1994 (33.58M) — would almost certainly rank higher all things being equal.

The 49ers’ comeback win, which peaked with 40.9 million viewers from 11-11:15 PM ET, increased 31% from Giants-Eagles in the same Saturday night window last year (28.64M). Entering Sunday, it ranked third for the season among NFL games behind Packers-Cowboys in the Wild Card round (40.16M) and Commanders-Cowboys on Thanksgiving (41.76M).

In Saturday’s early window, Texans-Ravens averaged a combined 31.76 million across ABC, ESPN and ESPN2, again per Nielsen fast-nationals — trailing only Jaguars-Chiefs on NBC last year (32.3M) as the most-watched early Saturday Divisional Round game since 2015 (Ravens-Patriots: 34.05M). The first ever Divisional Round game on ESPN/ABC, the Ravens’ blowout win delivered the networks’ largest NFL audience since Super Bowl 40.

Excluding the Super Bowl, Texans-Ravens was the most-watched NFL game on ESPN/ABC since a Chiefs-Dolphins Wild Card game on New Year’s Eve 1994 (33.58M). Overall, it ranks fourth among ESPN/ABC games dating back to the 1991 season, trailing another December 1994 game (49ers-Vikings: 32.01M) and Cowboys-Eagles in 1992 (32.98M). All of those games aired on ABC alone.

 

[MMC]

 

[LadyStanley]

Chiefs-Bills records mammoth ratings, most viewers since 2023 Super Bowl

At its peak, the Kansas City-Buffalo game reached more than 56 million viewers.

sports.yahoo.com

Chiefs-Bill most watched NFL game since 2023 SuperBowl

 

[Kirk Van Houten]

Chiefs-Bills records mammoth ratings, most viewers since 2023 Super Bowl

At its peak, the Kansas City-Buffalo game reached more than 56 million viewers.

sports.yahoo.com

Chiefs-Bill most watched NFL game since 2023 SuperBowl

Over 50 million for Chiefs-Bills, new Divisional Round record

The NFL crossed the rare 50 million viewer threshold for the latest chapter of the Chiefs-Bills rivalry on CBS.

www.sportsmediawatch.com

"the largest NFL audience on record outside of the Super Bowl and conference championship games. The previous mark was 48.52 million for a Packers-Cowboys Divisional Round game on FOX in 2017"

And aslo as we have talked about the impact of OOH: "Keep in mind that out-of-home viewing was not included in Nielsen final nationals prior to 2020 (or measured at all prior to 2016), meaning that any number of games from past playoffs would likely have done better all things being equal. Per a source, the 2017 Packers-Cowboys game would have averaged 54.17 million including out-of-home (which was being tracked at the time, but not included in the final nationals)."

Earlier Sunday, the Buccaneers-Lions NFC Divisional Round game averaged an 18.6 and 37.18 million across NBC (18.6, 37.11M) and Universo (0.04, 71K) — down from Bengals-Bills on CBS in the same window last year (20.1, 39.32M). Including a streaming audience of 3.3 million measured by Adobe Analytics, the game averaged 40.5 million — up from last year and the highest for an early Sunday Divisional Round game since Cowboys-Packers on FOX in 2015 (44.38M). (As NBC is the only network whose streaming viewership is not tracked by Nielsen, the network’s position is that the combined Nielsen/Adobe figure is comparable to the other networks’ Nielsen-only figures.) The Lions’ historic win, which peaked with 49.1 million from 6 PM ET through the conclusion, was the most-watched Divisional Round game on NBC since Chiefs-Oilers averaged 41.08 million in 1994 (18 total telecasts).

 

[Kirk Van Houten]

Sunday’s Big Ten women’s college basketball game on NBC and Peacock featuring Ohio State’s thrilling overtime victory over Caitlin Clark and Iowa averaged 1.93 million viewers – with 1.86 million viewers on NBC stations, ranking as the most-watched regular season women’s college basketball game on any network since 2010.

Lead up for the NFL is good and also Caitlin Clark is a star like very few in the college hoops history.

 

[Reaser]

Lead up for the NFL is good and also Caitlin Clark is a star like very few in the college hoops history.

Also ran over, obviously with OT, roughly 15 min into NFL pregame so a lot of people tuning in for the NFL then. I was thinking it'd be a good # anyway but once that happened I was a little disappointed because I wanted to see -though still aided w/lead into NFL- a more true # than "millions of NFL fans are waiting for playoff coverage to start."

 

[Kirk Van Houten]

Biggest game in 12 years. The OOH + Swifties can easily push the SB to the most watched of all time.

 

[Kirk Van Houten]

Just insane.

 

[Kirk Van Houten]

A bit mor context on championship sunday:

Nearly 57 million watch Lions' near miss in NFC Championship

With the underdog Lions on the brink of their first Super Bowl appearance, the NFC Championship was an especially massive draw.

www.sportsmediawatch.com

Over 55 million for Chiefs-Ravens AFC title game

A massive television audience of 55 million watched the defending champion Chiefs defeat the Ravens in the AFC Championship Game.

www.sportsmediawatch.com

Sunday’s Lions-49ers NFC Championship was the most-watched television program outside of the Super Bowl since the 2012 Giants-49ers NFC title game (57.64M). Excluding the Super Bowl, only three NFL games have averaged more viewers dating back to the 1991-92 season, all of them NFC Championship games on FOX: the aforementioned 2012 matchup, Vikings-Saints in 2010 (57.93M) and Cowboys-49ers in 1995 (56.79M).

Chiefs-Ravens ranks as the highest rated and second-most watched television program since last year’s Super Bowl. The Lions-49ers NFC Championship averaged a lower rating (25.1) but larger audience (56.32M) on FOX. This year marks the first time since 2014 — and just the third time dating back to the 1991-92 season — that both conference title games have topped the 50 million mark. Excluding the Super Bowl, it was the most-watched CBS television program since the Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding-fueled 1994 Lillehammer Winter Olympics.

CBS finished the NFL postseason with an average of 45.61 million viewers, up 12% from last year and the network’s highest playoff average since it resumed NFL coverage in the 1998-99 season.

 

[Kirk Van Houten]

Caitlin Clarck.

 

[Kirk Van Houten]

https://x.com/FOXSportsPR/status/1754922701981127006?s=20

 

[Kirk Van Houten]

 

[Kirk Van Houten]

https://x.com/CBSSportsGang/status/1757231295044682130?s=20

Unreal stuff.

 

[LadyStanley]

Super Bowl LVIII sets new viewership record for most-watched telecast in American history

The Chiefs’ overtime win against the 49ers in the Super Bowl on Sunday night averaged more than 123 million viewers, which set a new American record.

sports.yahoo.com

123.4m average viewership. Most wat he'd telecast in American history

 

[LadyStanley]

 

[Kirk Van Houten]

https://x.com/FOXSportsPR/status/1762539937206063434?s=20

 

[Kirk Van Houten]

Clark finale sets new mark with 3.4 million

Caitlin Clark set records on the court and in the ratings in her final collegiate regular season game.

www.sportsmediawatch.com

Sunday’s Ohio State-Iowa women’s college basketball game averaged a 1.9 rating and 3.39 million viewers on FOX, easily ranking as the most-watched regular season women’s game dating back to at least 2010 (and likely further back). The Hawkeyes’ win obliterated the previous season high of 1.86 million for the previous Iowa-Ohio State game this season, which aired on NBC in January.

In addition to setting the viewership mark, Iowa’s win was also the most-watched basketball game of the day — no small feat given ABC aired an NBA doubleheader that included the Warriors against the Celtics. The Celtics’ 52-point rout averaged 3.01 million.

 

[Kirk Van Houten]

 

[Chileiceman]

Can Women's college hops sustain a decent amount of the interest post Caitlin Clark? Will the WNBA see a spike of interest with her in the league?

I feel like we are about to enter into a great era for woman's sports. Women's college volleyball and basketball is at an all time high in popularity in USA, women's soccer is becoming bigger worldwide, PWHL has been a success at least in Canada (unsure how it's gone in USA). Women's tennis has maybe had a drop in the post-Serena world, but it has a very strong foundation.

 

[BLNY]

OT: Another numbers from the weekend:

None of the OP is surprising. 4-wheeled motorsport has always been more popular. Do I watch F1? Sometimes. If there's nothing else on. It's far too much of a parade, with far too much tech that impedes passing, and far too much energy spent on strategy instead of actually racing.

March Madness isn't really a fair comparison. It's one month out of the year where people who never watch college sports of any kind come together en mass and consume the (admittedly great) drama of the tournament.

I can't think of the movie, but there's a seen where one character is trying to explain something to another. A third jumps in, out of frustration, to exclaim that he's never going to get it and shut up. That's sort of how I feel about hockey and truly cracking the US market. The league and networks have tried all manner of gimmicks and changes. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them drink it.

 

[LadyStanley]

Iowa's Caitlin Clark draws historic viewership numbers for WNBA broadcast partner CBS

Caitlin Clark and Iowa set historic viewership numbers for all of the major traditional TV networks after the Big Ten title game on CBS.

sports.yahoo.com

Clark drawing more

 

[Kirk Van Houten]

Selection shows hit highs, as do Big Ten, ACC, Big East title games

The NCAA men's and women's basketball tournament selection shows both increased double-digits to viewership highs.

www.sportsmediawatch.com

Sunday’s NCAA men’s basketball tournament Selection Show averaged a 3.1 rating and 5.91 million viewers on CBS, marking the largest audience for the annual program since 2019 (6.2M) and second-largest in a decade. The women’s tournament Selection Show on ESPN averaged a 1.0 and 1.94 million, easily the highest ever for the event. Viewership for the respective shows increased 16 and 52 percent from last year (5.08 and 1.27 million).

As for the actual games, the Illinois-Wisconsin Big Ten Tournament final averaged a 1.9 and 3.65 million on CBS — up 11% in ratings and 15% in viewership from last year (1.7, 3.18M) and the most-watched Big Ten title game in three years. The previous day’s Illinois-Nebraska semifinal averaged a 1.7 and 2.98 million on CBS, preceded by Wisconsin’s upset of Purdue at a 1.5 and 2.74 million.

Later Saturday, the NC State-North Carolina ACC Tournament final averaged a 1.8 and 3.24 million on ESPN. The Wolfpack’s upset win was Saturday’s most-watched sportscast, topping a Warriors-Lakers NBA game on ABC — a closely-contested matchup of Stephen Curry and LeBron James — head-to-head (1.6, 2.97M).

The Iowa State-Houston Big 12 Tournament final led in with a 1.1 (-16%) and 2.11 million (-15%), the least-watched edition of the game in three years. The San Diego State-New Mexico Mountain West Tournament final averaged a 1.0 (+3%) and 1.80 million (+9%) on CBS, the highest since 2014 (1.9M), and the UConn-Marquette Big East title game had a 0.9 and 1.68 million on FOX — up 61 and 71 percent respectively from last year (Marquette-Xavier: 0.53, 980K) and the top audience for the game since the “old” Big East on ESPN in 2013 (2.1, 3.42M).

The Arizona-Washington State Pac-12 Tournament final led out of the Big East with a 0.55 and 1.02 million, down 38% in ratings and 35% in viewership from UCLA-Arizona in a post-ACC timeslot on ESPN last year (0.9, 1.57M). The SEC Tournament also posted double-digit declines. Sunday’s Auburn-Florida title game averaged a 1.0 and 1.78 million on ESPN, down 10% and 9% respectively from last year (1.1, 1.95M) and a three-year low.

 

[Kirk Van Houten]

ESPN’s Most-Watched Season of NBA Saturday Primetime on ABC in Five Years

ESPN’s NBA Saturday Primetime on ABC series was its most-watched in five years, since the 2018-19 season, according to Nielsen. The 2023-24 campaign averaged 3,133,000 viewers, up 12 percent from last year (2,801,000).

espnpressroom.com

ESPN’s NBA Saturday Primetime on ABC series was its most-watched in five years, since the 2018-19 season, according to Nielsen. The 2023-24 campaign averaged 3,133,000 viewers, up 12 percent from last year (2,801,000).

NBA Saturday Primetime on ABC was also up 14 percent from last season in the pivotal People 18-49 demographic, averaging 1,080,000 viewers.

 

[Kirk Van Houten]

 

[Kirk Van Houten]

Big March Madness numbers and btw next Iowa game will be unopossed on ABC and if they win they get ESPN unopossed on monday night.