Tag: TV Ratings

Broncos blowing out Saints on ‘TNF’ was bad for Prime’s ratings

Football fans weren’t too interested in watching the Broncos beat up the Saints — it was TNF’s least-watched matchup so far this season.

The Denver Broncos got a big win over the New Orleans Saints on Thursday Night Football last week. It was 33-3 late in the fourth quarter until the Broncos put in their second-string defense and the Saints made a change at quarterback. New Orleans then scored late to make the final score 33-10.

It was a fun game for Broncos fans, but not necessarily appealing to a national audience. Denver was 3-3 going into the game and the Saints were 2-4. The game did mark Sean Payton’s return to New Orleans, but that might not have been as big of a draw as the NFL thought it would be.

The Broncos-Saints showdown got 9.81 million viewers, according to Austin Karp of the Sports Business Journal. That marked the first time this season a TNF game averaged fewer than 10 million viewers.

While the number was a dip for this season, it was still higher than the NFL’s TNF game in Week 7 last year, which drew 9.79 million viewers.

Thursday wasn’t a great ratings night for Prime, but the league’s ratings are still up overall compared to last year.

[vertical-gallery id=620142]

2024 Presidents Cup ratings plummet, dwarfed by football and golf’s majors

The ratings marked a 28 percent decline from 2022’s audience.

The 2024 Presidents Cup at Royal Montreal drew a sharply smaller television audience compared to the 2022 edition that was played at Quail Hollow Golf Club in Charlotte, North Carolina.

According to Nielsen data reported by Sports Business Journal, 1.37 million people tuned in for Sunday’s final day on NBC, marking a 28 percent decline from 2022’s audience of 1.89 million, even though the events were played in the same time zone. Saturday’s all-day coverage, which served as a lead-in to college football on NBC, brought in 1.21 million viewers, down 36 percent from 1.89 million two years ago.

To put Sunday’s 1.37 million viewers into perspective, the NFL matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers on CBS attracted 24.1 million viewers. The Thursday night football game between the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants, which was only available on Amazon Prime, drew 16.2 million views. The viewership number for Sunday’s Presidents Cup was about the same as Fox’s NFL Kickoff pre-game show on Sunday (1.2 million) and the second game of the WNBA Playoff series between the Minnesota Lynx and Phoenix Mercury (1.2 million).

The Presidents Cup’s figures fall significantly short of the golf’s marquee events. The final round of the 2024 Masters was down 20 percent year-over-year but was still viewed by 9.58 million people. The final round of the 2024 U.S. Open, which featured a dual between Bryson DeChambeau and Rory McIlroy, was viewed by a a total audience on NBC and Peacock of 5.9 million viewers.

Notre Dame at Purdue was one of the most-watched Week 3 college football games

Notre Dame’s beatdown of Purdue drew a large audience, though it wasn’t top five for the week.

Maybe it’s because Notre Dame football usually has a large audience. Maybe it’s because neutral fans were curious to see if the Fighting Irish could bounce back after the loss to Northern Illinois at home. Maybe neutral fans wanted to see the Irish get upset two weeks in a row.

Whatever the reason, a lot of people tuned in to see Notre Dame visit the Purdue Boilermakers on Saturday.

According to The Athletic’s Stewart Mandel, the game was the eighth-most watched college football game of the weekend, with 2.3 million people tuning into CBS to watch.

The most-watched game was Georgia at Kentucky. That’s not surprising given the Bulldogs’ status as one of the top two teams in the country, and it was also the night game on ABC. It’s hard to tell how the flow of a game affects the total number, but that game was also close to an upset.

Alabama at Wisconsin drew 5 million on Fox, and Lousiana State’s escape against South Carolina drew 4.9 million to ABC during the day on Saturday.

The top five were rounded out by Texas A&M at Florida on ABC (4.8 million) and Colorado-Colorado State on CBS (3.2 million).

 

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on X (Formerly Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Tim on X: @tehealey

The ratings are out, and less than 100K people tuned in for LIV Golf’s individual championship finale

Only 89,000 people tuned in on the CW to watch Jon Rahm win the title.

LIV Golf’s slogan is Golf, but Louder, but is it?

The Nielsen ratings are out for this weekend, and the ratings for LIV Golf in its individual championship at LIV Golf Chicago were some of the lowest of the season.

Only 89,000 people tuned in on the CW to watch Jon Rahm win the title Sunday, and on Saturday in the second round, which LIV Golf said was its highest-attended round in the United States ever, drew 134,000 viewers on TV.

Those numbers don’t include LIV Golf Plus, but regardless, it paints a stark picture of fan interest in the breakaway league that concludes its third season this week at the Team Championship at Maridoe in Dallas.

https://twitter.com/SportsTVRatings/status/1836090669028544565

Also on Sunday, the Solheim Cup drew an audience of 657K, seven times more than those who watched LIV. For comparison, the Solheim Cup ended about 2:45 p.m. ET Sunday, and LIV Golf Chicago concluded at 6:05 p.m. ET, so they weren’t competing head to head.

As fans of the game continue to be turned off about discussions of PGA Tour vs. LIV and the ongoing push to bring the top players back together, LIV’s TV ratings have yet to take off.

Also with direct competition from college football and the NFL, it’s hard to imagine people turning off football to watch LIV Golf, and the numbers show that.

Rahm won Sunday, making $22 million in the process. That’s $247 and some change for every viewer who tuned in.

Golfers are some of the highest-paid athletes in the world right now. But as LIV and the Public Investment Fund look ahead to what’s next for the league, it’s hard to imagine fan interest changing.

With three years of data, people are not tuning in to watch LIV Golf on TV.

Notre Dame expected to play in one of the most watched games of 2024

Which game this fall for the Irish do you think the most eyes will be on?

As one of the biggest brands in college football, it should come as no surprise that, during the season, many eyes are watching Notre Dame football.

This year will be no different. On3 is predicting the Irish will have one of the top-10 most watched games of the 2024 campaign. The site doesn’t believe you’ll have to wait long for everyone to tune into Notre Dame football, either. Pete Nakos thinks the season-opening contest at Texas A&M will be that game.

Two other Irish games could have made the list: Nov. 9 when Florida State comes to South Bend, and Nov. 30 when the Irish travel to LA to take on USC in the regular-season finale.

The Seminoles are a top-10 preseason team that could result in a huge game if both teams stay close to where they are currently ranked. As for the Trojans, they barely made both preseason polls, and a rise in the rankings could produce a much more important finale.

Either way, it should be another year when we see plenty of eyes on the Irish as they look to make some noise in the [autotag]College Football Playoff[/autotag].

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes and opinions.

Follow Mike on X: @MikeFChen

PGA Championship TV ratings benefit from Scottie Scheffler bump

Scottie Scheffler’s arrest drew eyeballs to coverage of the PGA Championship, and the ratings benefitted.

Scottie Scheffler being booked on suspicion of second-degree assault of a police officer, third-degree criminal mischief, reckless driving and disregarding traffic signals from an officer directing traffic brought eyeballs and a spike in viewership to the broadcast of the 106th PGA Championship.

CBS reported an 11-percent viewership increase for the final round of the PGA Championship on Sunday at Valhalla Golf Club. CBS averaged just under 5 million viewers, up from 4.5 million last year when Brooks Koepka won by two shots at Oak Hill. (It’s still the second-lowest rating in the last five years.)

Scheffler, the world No. 1 and reigning Masters champion, was detained early Friday morning before his second-round tee time after trying to drive into the entrance of Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky. The assault charge is a felony; the others are misdemeanors.

News of Scheffler’s arrest went viral and included firsthand reporting by ESPN’s Jeff Darlington, who witnessed Scheffler attempt to enter the club and a police officer attach himself to the vehicle.

ESPN’s live telecast of the second round of the PGA Championship on May 17 averaged 1.6 million viewers, an increase of 18 percent in audience compared to the second-round coverage in 2023.

Friday’s telecast, which ran from noon until 8 p.m. ET, peaked at 2 million viewers during the 6-6:15 p.m. quarter hour. Last year’s second-round telecast averaged 1.369 million viewers.

Also on Friday, the ESPN BET at the PGA Championship alternate telecast on ESPN2 averaged 323,000 viewers between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., up from 164,000 average viewers during the first round Thursday.

The PGA Championship with No Laying Up alternate telecast that aired on ESPN2 from 1-3 p.m. averaged 155,000 viewers, up from 89,000 average viewers Thursday.

TV ratings of PGA Tour events have been down significantly for the year. The Masters, which Scheffler captured by four strokes, was down 20 percent to an average of 9.59 million viewers. The Tour has been plagued by bad weather, such as the cancellation of the final round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, and by several lesser-known winners (Matthieu Pavon, Jake Knapp). Another pressing concern: Tour-LIV fatigue.

Perhaps all CBS needed was a photo finish between Xander Schauffele, the player formerly wearing the label of best player never to win a major, and LIV showman Bryson DeChambeau. Either that, or more likely the world No. 1 being photographed in an orange jumpsuit for his mug shot before shooting 66 gave golf a bump. Regardless, it’s a positive for the networks, who have been taking it on the chin this season.

WNBA draft shatters previous TV viewing record

Women’s basketball’s growth in recent years is undeniable, and the numbers back it up.

The growth of women’s basketball over the last few years is undeniable.

To know this is the case, all you have to do is turn on a sports talk show for a few minutes. But that growth is perhaps best reflected by the viewership numbers.

After the women’s NCAA tournament shattered a number of records — not just for women’s basketball but basketball games televised on ESPN, in general — it’s no surprise we saw the same effect with the WNBA draft on Monday night.

Featuring stars like Caitlin Clark, [autotag]Angel Reese[/autotag], Cameron Brink and more, the 2024 WNBA draft was by far the most watched of all time coming in at just under 2.5 million viewers. For context, the previous draft viewing record was set in 2004 with 601,000 viewers.

The WNBA has seen its fair share of growth as well, but not quite at the level we’ve seen in college. With so many of these stars now matriculating into the league, it will be interesting to see if it has the same effect.

Contact/Follow us @LSUTigersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Louisiana State news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Tyler to continue the conversation on Twitter: @TylerNettuno

LSU-Iowa was most-watched women’s college basketball game of all time

It was also the second-most watched basketball game on ESPN overall since 2012.

The growth of women’s college basketball over the last few years is undeniable, and that trend is visibly reflected in the viewing numbers.

Monday night’s Elite Eight game between LSU and Iowa was the most-watched women’s college basketball game of all time, averaging 12.3 million viewers and peaking at 16.1 million. That shattered the previous record, which was set in last season’s national championship game, which also featured the Tigers and Hawkeyes.

Those numbers aren’t just impressive by women’s basketball standards. The game was the second-most watched basketball game on ESPN, period, since 2012, trailing only Game 7 of the 2018 NBA Eastern Conference Finals.

This year’s Elite Eight was also the most-watched on record, overall.

While the game didn’t go the way LSU hoped as Caitlin Clark went off for 41 points in a 94-87 revenge win for Iowa, it’s clear that women’s basketball continues to grow its audience, and we’ll see if the Final Four is able to top these numbers.

Contact/Follow us @LSUTigersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Louisiana State news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Tyler to continue the conversation on Twitter: @TylerNettuno

Despite canceled final round at Pebble Beach (and no NFL playoffs), LIV Golf still struggles in TV ratings

LIV Golf’s event still drew a rating well below that registered by the PGA Tour.

With a number of factors lining up during the opening weekend of the LIV Golf season, the fledgling circuit had all the pieces in place to capture a significant TV audience.

However, a playoff between a pair of big names did little to draw viewers to the CW Network, according to reports.

Joaquin Niemann went wire-to-wire to claim his first win on the Saudi-backed circuit at the league’s 2024 opener at Mayakoba’s El Camaleon Golf Course in Mexico following a four-hole playoff in the dark against Sergio Garcia on Sunday. Niemann, who shot a blistering 12-under 59 in the first round, made one final clutch putt to seal the deal for his first win since joining the league. Also, Jon Rahm made his LIV Golf debut, and his newly formed expansion team, Legion XIII, won the team title by four shots at 24 under.

But despite the impressive leaderboard, the cancellation of the final round at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and no NFL playoffs on the schedule, LIV Golf’s event still drew a rating well below that of the PGA Tour, according to Sports TV Ratings.

Although the head-to-head numbers on Saturday were strongly in favor of the PGA Tour (168K to 1.91M), the Sunday number for LIV Golf did show a significant year-over-year improvement.

LIV’s first event in 2023 received 291K viewers on Sunday, according to Josh Carpenter of the Sports Business Journal. The 2023 Honda Classic, on the other hand, reeled in 2.38 million.

The numbers do not include streaming, which is available on LIV Golf Plus as well as via a pay-per-view YouTube option.

[lawrence-auto-related count=1 tag=451189570]

America did not have much interest in Wisconsin vs Northwestern last Saturday

America did not have much interest in Wisconsin vs Northwestern last Saturday

Wisconsin fell 24-10 to Northwestern on Saturday to continue what has been a forgettable football season.

And by forgettable, I mean it would be nice to forget. In reality, this season will either spark an incredible comeback by Luke Fickell and his staff, or signal the end of an era that never really got off the ground. It will be a hard one to forget completely.

But the Badgers’ loss to Northwestern could file as one of those games we never look back upon. Wisconsin was dominated in all facets by a team that was projected to win 2-3 games this season.

It was also a game America didn’t show much interest in, understandably. Action Network’s Brett McMurphy posted the latest viewership numbers of the games this weekend and Wisconsin vs Northwestern fell at No. 19 with 612,000 viewers.

The game fell below Iowa vs Rutgers, the game with the lowest total in college football history (and still went under).