TV ratings for sports other than hockey

[Kirk Van Houten]

https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2024/07/euro-2024-ratings-record-viewership-quarterfinals-fox-france-portugal/

Friday’s France-Portugal UEFA Euro 2024 quarterfinal averaged 4.28 million viewers on FOX, marking the largest audience on record for a Euro quarterfinal on English-language television and Fox Sports’ largest soccer audience outside of the World Cup. This year’s four quarterfinal matches were the four most-watched on English-language television. Saturday’s Netherlands-Turkey match placed second with 3.46 million — up 50% from Ukraine-England on ABC in ’21 (2.30M). The Netherlands’ win, which peaked with 4.16 million in the 4:30 quarter-hour, also ranks second all-time among non-World Cup matches on FOX. Rounding out the quarterfinal slate, England-Switzerland drew 3.33 million earlier Saturday and Spain-Germany opened the Friday slate with 3.16 million — both up triple-figures from the equivalent ESPN matches in ’21 (Czech Republic-Denmark: 1.52M; Switzerland-Spain: 1.50M). The full quarterfinal round averaged 3.57 million on FOX, up 89% from ’21 (1.89M) and — as goes without saying — a record. The full tournament is averaging 1.50 million, up 42% from ’21 (1.06M).


As for the other major soccer tournament, Copa America quarterfinals averaged 1.67 million across FOX and FS1 — up 420% from 2021 (321K) and up 40% from 2016 (1.19M). All quarterfinal matches aired on cable in those years. As with Euro 2024, the Copa America quarterfinals were the most-watched yet on English-language television. Uruguay-Brazil topped the weekend slate with 2.14 million on FS1 Saturday, marking the most-watched Copa America quarterfinal on English-language TV. Colombia-Panana led in with 1.19 million. On Thursday — the Fourth of July — Argentina-Ecuador drew 1.87 million on FOX. Copa America is now averaging 1.17 million across the Fox networks, up fivefold from 2021 (234K) and up 45% from 2016 (807K).

 

[Anisimovs AK]

Ratings roundup: Fever-Aces, Euros, racing, baseball

Ratings roundup: Caitlin Clark and the Fever delivered yet another seven-figure audience; Euro 2024 viewership continues to rise.

www.sportsmediawatch.com

Regional Major League Baseball action on FOX averaged 2.47 million viewers Saturday night, up from 1.76 million on the same weekend last year. ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball (Rangers-Orioles) drew 1.22 million, down from a combined 1.42 million for Giants-Dodgers on ESPN and ESPN2 last year. For the second-straight week, Sunday Night Baseball trailed WNBA action on ESPN earlier in the afternoon (with the obvious caveat that both WNBA games featured Caitlin Clark).

Baseball is dead then !!

Joelef's gonna love this

 

[gattaca]

2.8m average watched Canada v Argentina on TSN/CTV2/RDS.

Fourth most watched Canada Soccer match in history. 2 matches in Qatar and 2012 Olympics women semi-final had higher numbers.

https://x.com/i/web/status/1811116617029341247

 

[Reaser]

Last weekends CFL (and Blue Jays & the exact Eng-lang Canada QF #):

https://3downnation.com/2024/07/10/allez-alouettes-montreal-posts-best-regular-season-tv-rating-on-rds-since-2015/

 

[Anisimovs AK]

Last weekends CFL (and Blue Jays & the exact Eng-lang Canada QF #):

https://3downnation.com/2024/07/10/allez-alouettes-montreal-posts-best-regular-season-tv-rating-on-rds-since-2015/

The CFL seems like it should have like a $200 million a year tv contract with those kinds of numbers. Doesnt the Grey Cup usually get like 3-5 million viewers too?

 

[Reaser]

The CFL seems like it should have like a $200 million a year tv contract with those kinds of numbers. Doesnt the Grey Cup usually get like 3-5 million viewers too?

Combined English & French broadcast viewership no Grey Cup in the 21st century has been under 3 million and I believe the record is still 6.1M from 2009. So that's the range for the previous 23 years -- 22 Grey Cups since they didn't play the covid year.

Not sure what the $ should be but definitely think the CFL is underrated when it comes to perception verse what it actually does viewership wise.

 

[Anisimovs AK]

Combined English & French broadcast viewership no Grey Cup in the 21st century has been under 3 million and I believe the record is still 6.1M from 2009. So that's the range for the previous 23 years -- 22 Grey Cups since they didn't play the covid year.

Not sure what the $ should be but definitely think the CFL is underrated when it comes to perception verse what it actually does viewership wise.

They have a 20 week regular season too?

Wonder what their non Grey Cup Playoff games get.


It is kind of amazing they didnt get a bigger deal from an NHL-less TSN.

 

[Golden_Jet]

They have a 20 week regular season too?

Wonder what their non Grey Cup Playoff games get.


It is kind of amazing they didnt get a bigger deal from an NHL-less TSN.

18 game regular season

 

[Reaser]

18 game regular season

Yeah, but 21-week regular season because of BYE's, obviously 9-teams. So creates more weeks of inventory than 18-games = 18 weeks. As you know.

 

[Kirk Van Houten]

Euros, Copa America, still hot entering respective finals

The Euro 2024 and Copa America soccer tournaments continue to deliver in the ratings as their respective finals approach.

www.sportsmediawatch.com

The UEFA Euro 2024 semifinals averaged 3.08 million viewers on FOX, up a third from the 2021 semifinals on ESPN (2.32M) and the highest average ever for the round on English-language television. Tuesday’s Spain-France match averaged 3.20 million, up 44% from Italy-Spain in ’21 (2.22M) and the most-watched semifinal on record. On Wednesday, England’s last-second win over the Netherlands averaged 2.97 million — trailing only Spain-France as the most-watched semifinal on record. The full UEFA Euro tournament is averaging 1.57 million viewers, up 40% from 2021 (1.12M). (There are no Spanish-language figures for the Euro tournament, as Univision is airing all of its coverage on the streaming service VIX.)

Shifting to Copa America, Wednesday’s Colombia-Uruguay semifinal averaged 2.15 million viewers on FS1 — the largest English-language audience on record for a Copa America semifinal, excluding those involving the United States. The match averaged a larger audience of 2.9 million across Univision and TUDN, bringing the combined total to about five million. Tuesday’s Argentina-Canada semifinal averaged 1.99 million on FS1 — ranking second among semifinals on English-language TV — and 2.7 million on Univision and TUDN for a combined audience of about 4.7 million. FS1 averaged 2.07 million viewers for the Copa America semifinals, a record for the round on English-language television, with the full tournament averaging 1.23 million — up nearly 400 percent from 2021 (261K) and 39% from 2016 (886K).

 

[Kirk Van Houten]

Euros, Copa America, finish on high notes

The Fox Sports "Summer of Soccer" culminated in the company's two largest soccer audiences ever outside of the World Cup.

www.sportsmediawatch.com

Summer of soccer was huge for FOX

Sunday’s Spain-England UEFA Euro 2024 final averaged 6.43 million viewers on FOX, marking the largest audience on record for a Euro telecast on English-language television. The 2021 final also aired on Univision and averaged a combined audience of over nine million. This year’s final aired on the Univision streaming service VIX, which is not Nielsen-rated, thus a combined figure will not be available.

Later in the night, the Argentina-Colombia Copa America final averaged 6.02 million — the tournament’s largest English-language audience on record — soared 211% from the 2021 Copa America final (Brazil-Argentina: 1.94M) and 138% from the 2016 final (Argentina-Chile: 2.53M), both of which aired on FS1. Keep in mind the start of the match was delayed more than an hour due to incidents at the venue. The Copa America final also aired on Univision, figures for which will be added when they are available.

The full Euro 2024 tournament averaged 1.68 million viewers on FOX and FS1, up 34% from 2021 (1.25M) and the most-watched edition of the tournament on English-language television. The Copa America tournament averaged 1.42 million across FOX, FS1 and FS2, up more than 350 percent from 2021 (309K) and up 44% from 2016 (987K) to rank as the most-watched edition of the tournament on English-language TV.

As one would expect, the two matches rank as the most-watched non-World Cup soccer telecasts ever on Fox Sports.

 

[Reaser]

The full Euro 2024 tournament averaged 1.68 million viewers on FOX and FS1, up 34% from 2021 (1.25M) and the most-watched edition of the tournament on English-language television.

Good #'s regardless but worth noting it wasn't the "full" Euro 2024 since FOX put five of the would-be least viewed matches on Fubo. So that average would come down from 1.68M -- if they had aired on FOX/FS1 probably takes avg down to 1.3-1.4M range.

 

[Kirk Van Houten]

Euros, Copa America, finish on high notes

The Fox Sports "Summer of Soccer" culminated in the company's two largest soccer audiences ever outside of the World Cup.

www.sportsmediawatch.com

Summer of soccer was huge for FOX

Sunday’s Spain-England UEFA Euro 2024 final averaged 6.43 million viewers on FOX, marking the largest audience on record for a Euro telecast on English-language television. The 2021 final also aired on Univision and averaged a combined audience of over nine million. This year’s final aired on the Univision streaming service VIX, which is not Nielsen-rated, thus a combined figure will not be available.

Later in the night, the Argentina-Colombia Copa America final averaged 6.02 million — the tournament’s largest English-language audience on record — soared 211% from the 2021 Copa America final (Brazil-Argentina: 1.94M) and 138% from the 2016 final (Argentina-Chile: 2.53M), both of which aired on FS1. Keep in mind the start of the match was delayed more than an hour due to incidents at the venue. The Copa America final also aired on Univision, figures for which will be added when they are available.

The full Euro 2024 tournament averaged 1.68 million viewers on FOX and FS1, up 34% from 2021 (1.25M) and the most-watched edition of the tournament on English-language television. The Copa America tournament averaged 1.42 million across FOX, FS1 and FS2, up more than 350 percent from 2021 (309K) and up 44% from 2016 (987K) to rank as the most-watched edition of the tournament on English-language TV.

As one would expect, the two matches rank as the most-watched non-World Cup soccer telecasts ever on Fox Sports.

https://x.com/i/web/status/1813277382091977213

Aparently the final aired on Univision.

 

[Kirk Van Houten]

Clark the main draw, but rest of WNBA picking up with viewers

Caitlin Clark continues to be the WNBA's top draw, but the league is drawing some of its best numbers in years even without her on the court.

www.sportsmediawatch.com

Sunday’s Fever-Lynx WNBA regular season game averaged 1.57 million viewers on ESPN, marking the seventh-largest WNBA audience since 2002. The ten largest audiences since 2002 have come this season, all for games involving Caitlin Clark and the Fever. Indiana’s win was the most-watched WNBA game to ever involve the Minnesota Lynx, a four-time champion and six-time finalist that dominated the 2010s under star Maya Moore. Indiana and Minnesota played against each other in two WNBA Finals (nine total games), with the most-watched of those being Game 2 of their 2012 matchup at 778,000.

Fever-Lynx was the second WNBA game that day and the third in 72 hours to top the million viewer mark. Earlier in the day, ABC averaged 1.02 million for Mercury-Sun, marking the second time this season that a WNBA game has topped the million mark without Clark on the court. The other million viewer game did involve Clark, as ION averaged 1.34 million million for Mercury-Fever on Friday night. Going back to last week, NBA TV averaged 238,000 for a Mystics-Fever game last Wednesday that began at Noon ET — the seventh-largest audience on the network this season. As one would expect given the Noon weekday timeslot, it was the least-watched Clark game this season.

 

[Kirk Van Houten]

Ratings: Wimbledon, ESPYs and more

Ratings roundup, including viewership figures for the Wimbledon singles finals, the ESPY Awards, NASCAR and more.

www.sportsmediawatch.com

The Wimbledon tennis tournament averaged 677,000 viewers on the ESPN networks, down 2% from last year, but up 5% from 2022. Sunday’s three-set Carlos Alcaraz-Novak Djokovic men’s final averaged 2.2 million, down 31% from last year’s five-set matchup of the same players (3.2M) and a three-year low.

On Saturday, the Barbora Krejčíková-Jasmine Paolini women’s final averaged 1.4 million — up 9% from Marketa Vondrousova-Ons Jabeur last year (1.3M) and the most-watched women’s final since Serena Williams’ last appearance in 2019 (2.4M).

Last Friday’s men’s semifinals averaged 977,000 (+10%), also the highest since 2019. The tournament as a whole had been trending at a five-year high through the semifinals, but fell off that pace due to the sharp decline for the men’s final.

 

[Kirk Van Houten]

MLB All-Star Game bucks trend with increase

Baseball's Midsummer Classic scored a rare increase in viewership and again delivered the largest All-Star audience in sports.

www.sportsmediawatch.com

The 2024 MLB All-Star Game averaged 7.44 million viewers on FOX — 7.6 million including Fox Deportes and additional streaming viewership — up 6% from last year’s record-low (7.01M) and just the third time in the past ten years that the game has posted a year-over-year increase (joining 2017 and 2021). This year’s audience is still the second-lowest for the Midsummer Classic. The MLB All-Star Game continues to rank as the most-watched of its genre, easily surpassing the second-place NFL “Pro Bowl Games” at 5.79 million and the NBA All-Star Game on TNT and TBS (5.4M). The MLB All-Star Game has been the most-watched All-Star event in eight of the past nine years it has taken place, the lone exception being 2019. The All-Star Game also continues to deliver one of the largest audiences in all of baseball. Outside of the World Series, only one game all of last season averaged more viewers — Game 7 of the National League Championship Series on TBS, truTV and MLB Network (9.1M).

 

[Kirk Van Houten]

https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2024/07/caitlin-clark-ratings-16th-million-viewer-audience-new-wnba-record/

Wednesday’s Fever-Wings WNBA regular season game averaged 1.70 million viewers on ESPN, marking the 16th game this season with a seven-figure audience — the most in any WNBA season (including the playoffs and finals). The previous high was 15 in 1998, a figure that included all three games of the WNBA Finals. Fourteen of the 16 games with a million viewer audience this season have involved Caitlin Clark and the Fever. The lone exceptions were Sparks-Aces on May 18 (1.34M) — which led directly out of a Fever game — and Mercury-Sun this past Sunday (1.02M). Keep in mind that three additional Fever games, including Clark’s home debut, aired on Amazon Prime Video and were not Nielsen rated. Prior to this season, the last WNBA game to average a million viewers was Candace Parker’s career debut in 2008.

 

[Kirk Van Houten]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1815757602451607947

 

[LadyStanley]

WNBA All-Star Game has record 3.44 million viewers, the league's 3rd most watched event ever

The WNBA All-Star Game drew a record number of viewers with 3.44 million people watching the contest in Phoenix on Saturday night. The game, which saw the WNBA All-Stars beat the U.S. Olympic team 117-109, easily topped the 1.44 million that viewed the 2003 contest. It was the third most...

sports.yahoo.com

 

[Kirk Van Houten]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1816584848921743363

https://x.com/i/web/status/1816953082791792670

https://x.com/i/web/status/1816953933614460986

Olympic numbers are here.

 

[Kirk Van Houten]

Ratings: USA Basketball, Subway Series, British Open and more

The USA men's basketball team averaged its largest exhibition audience since 2012. Plus: baseball's Subway Series, the British Open and more.

www.sportsmediawatch.com

The five-game USA men’s basketball exhibition schedule averaged 979,000 viewers across FOX and FS1, marking the most-watched USA Basketball exhibition slate since the lead-up to the 2012 Olympics, when the games aired on the ESPN networks. Viewership increased 165% from the exhibition games leading up to the 2021 Olympics, which aired on the now-defunct NBCSN and took place during the delayed NBA Playoffs (369K). Compared to the 2016 exhibition games on NBA TV, viewership increased 204% from 321,000. Compared to last year’s exhibition games on FOX and FS1, which led up to the Basketball World Cup, viewership increased 191% from 337,000. This year marked the second and final time that the USA Basketball exhibitions will air on the Fox Sports networks. As part of the new NBA media rights deals, those USA Basketball exhibitions will air on NBC.

Wednesday’s Mets-Yankees Major League Baseball game averaged 1.41 million viewers on ESPN, up 17% from last year’s comparable Braves-Red Sox weeknight game on the network (1.21M). The rivals’ game on TBS the previous night drew 676,000, up 24% from the network’s Subway Series game last year (546K) and a season-high. Going back to last weekend, regional action featuring Dodgers-Red Sox averaged 2.12 million on FOX — up from 1.93 million on the same weekend last year. The same matchup drew 1.62 million on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball (including a “Statcast” simulcast on ESPN2), up from Red Sox-Mets last year, which included a “KayRod” simulcast (1.46M).

Last Sunday’s final round of the British Open averaged 3.19 million viewers on NBC (3.39 million including additional streaming viewership not tracked by Nielsen), marking the tournament’s smallest final round audience since 2015, the last time coverage aired on ESPN. Third round action drew 2.40 million (2.57 million including additional streaming viewership), the lowest since rainout coverage in 2014.

 

[Kirk Van Houten]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1817315231997297027

https://x.com/i/web/status/1817316350961807801

 

[GKJ]

 

[NextBigThing]

Meltzer is a dope. The TBS game wasn't exclusive. Everyone in New York watched the local broadcasts. The ESPN was exclusive hence the much stronger number. That's about what I'd expect out of a wrestling "journalist".

 

[Kirk Van Houten]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1817667807078920223