Ratings Roundup: ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball Up 10% Over 2016; TNF Overnight Up 6% Over Last Year By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor
Friday, September 29, 2017 - 9:10 am
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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,Ratings for ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball franchise increased by 10 percent in 2017, theWeek 4 overnight for Thursday Night Football was up 6% over last year, we recap Week 3 of the NFL season and Week 4 of the college football season, Golf Channel posts its second-most watched Q3 ever, and a buzzerbeater in Game 3 of the WNBA Finals delivers a record overnight.
ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball Ratings Up Double-Digits in 2017
Ratings for ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball franchise increased by 10 percent in 2017, compared to last year, according to Nielsen. Sunday Night Baseball averaged a 1.1 U.S. household rating across 26 telecasts, up from a 1.0 rating in 2016. Additionally, Sunday Night Baseball's total live audience - p2 viewership plus streaming - was up eight percent, averaging 1,762,000 viewers, compared to 1,625,000 viewers in 2016. ESPN also saw ratings growth for Sunday Night Baseball in multiple demos, including P18-34 (0.4 vs. 0.3), P18-49 (0.5 vs. 0.4) and M25-54 (0.8 vs. 0.7). (ESPN)
Week 4 TNF Overnight Up 6% Over Last year
Thursday Night Football on Thursday, Sept. 28 featuring the Green Bay Packers beating the Chicago Bears earned an average overnight household rating/share of 9.9/18, 6% from last year's 9.3/16 for the comparable TNF matchup on CBS and NFL Network of Chicago-Green Bay (10/20/16), according to Nielsen metered market ratings. TNF on CBS and NFL Network dominated primetime ratings from 8:00-11:00 PM, ET, averaging a household rating/share of 9.5/16. CBS/NFL Network's primetime ratings for Premiere Week Thursday Night of 9.5/16 was 280% better than FOX (2.5/4), 106% better than NBC (4.6/8) and 94% better than ABC (4.9/8). Last night's game HH rating/share peaked at 11.3/19 from 9:00-9:15 PM, ET before the 47-minute weather delay. (CBS)
Week 3 NFL Rating Recap
ESPN's Monday Night Football game (Dallas Cowboys' 28-17 victory over the Arizona Cardinals) averaged 13.8 million viewers across ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes, a 71% increase year-over-year for week 3. On ESPN, Cowboys-Cardinals averaged an 8.2 US household rating and 13,691,000 viewers. The game peaked during the 10:30 10:45 p.m. ET quarter hour with a 9.1 US household rating and 15,325,000 viewers. Cowboys-Cardinals ranks as the second most-watched MNF game on ESPN in the last two seasons (behind only Lions-Cowboys on Dec. 26, 2016 with 18,605,000 viewers). On ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes, Cowboys-Cardinals averaged an additional 152,000 viewers - 96,000 viewers on ESPN Deportes and 56,000 on ESPN2, making it the most-watched Spanish-language MNF game on ESPN networks since 2013. Through three weeks (four games), ESPN's MNF viewership is averaging 11,887,000 viewers, a 10 percent increase through week 3 a year ago (10,842,000). (ESPN)
NBC Sunday Night Football (a Washington blowout over Oakland) earned a 10.1 rating and 17.478 million viewers on SNF over the weekend, down 14% in ratings and 15% in viewership from Bears-Cowboys last year (11.7, 20.6M) and the lowest-rated Week 3 edition of SNF since 2006 (Broncos-Patriots, 10.0). Including streaming viewership on NBC and NFL digital platforms, the game had 17.6 million viewers - still down 15% from last year (20.7M) and the least-watched SNF game in Week 3 since 2009. (SMW)
CBS's Week 3 NFL national window (Bengals-Packers in 80% of markets) had a 12.2 rating and 21.3 million viewers, down 3% in both measures from last year (Steelers-Eagles, 12.6, 22.0M). It was the lowest rated and least-watched Week 3 national window since 2009 - which also featured the Bengals (10.9, 18.2M). Earlier in the day, regional action pulled an 8.4 and 14.4 million - up 5% in ratings and 10% in viewership from last year (8.0, 13.1M). (SMW)
Fox's Week 3 NFL singleheader window (Giants-Eagles in 41% of markets or Seahawks-Titans in 27%), had a 9.2 rating and 15.4 million viewers on FOX Sunday - down 17% in ratings and 19% in viewership from last year (11.1, 19.2M). It was the lowest rated and least-watched Week 3 singleheader since 2008 (8.7, 14.0M). Despite the lower numbers, it was also the highest rated and most-watched NFL singleheader of the young season. (SMW)
For more in depth coverage of the NFL's Week 3 ratings, check out SportsMediaWatch.com.
Week 4 College Football Ratings Recap
ABC's Saturday Night Football is averaging a total live audience of 7,805,000 viewers a game, up 49% from last season's first four weeks and 150% higher than FOX' four-week TV-only prime-time audience. ABC's Saturday Night Football featuring Penn State at Iowa (7:30 p.m. ET) delivered a total live audience of 5,341,000 viewers, up 40% from last season's week 4 SNF game (Stanford at UCLA) and 55% higher than Fox' TV-only audience for Notre Dame at Michigan State. ABC's regionalized action, NC State at Florida State and Texas Tech at Houston (noon), generated a total live audience of 3,850,000 viewers, the most-watched noon game window of the season and the second most-watched telecast of the week across all networks. The viewership was up 48% from last year's comparable window (Florida State at South Florida). (ESPN)
ESPN and ESPN2 combined to televise the five most-watched cable games of the week, led by Mississippi State at Georgia (2,897,000 TV streaming viewers). Texas A&M vs. Arkansas (noon) and TCU at Oklahoma State's (3:30 p.m.) total live audiences - 2,708,000 viewers and 2,574,000 viewers, respectively - are cabl
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Ratings Roundup: ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball Up 10% Over 2016; TNF Overnight Up 6% Over Last Year By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor 
