Ratings Roundup: Scotty Scheffler Win Tops the Week, ESPN Posts Most-Watched WNBA Game Ever on Cable

Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent ratings news and is derived from press releases and reports around the industry. In this week's edition, CBS' final round of the FedEx St. Jude Championship tops Nielsen's Top 25 Live Sports Events Telecasts; MLB's return to the Field of Dreams site averages 1.66 million viewers in Netflix's first special-event game; the FIFA World Cup and NBA Finals drive a 118% increase in broadcast sports viewing in June; ESPN delivers the most-watched WNBA game ever on cable and a record non-Indiana audience in the same doubleheader; FOX Saturday Baseball posts the week's top MLB telecast; ESPN's Little League Baseball Region Tournaments draw their largest audience since 2009; NASCAR's Richmond Cup race rises 9% year over year; and INDYCAR on FOX climbs 24% with its Markham debut.

Nielsen Top 25 Live Sports Events Telecasts: Aug. 10-16Nielsen's Top 25 Live Sports Events Telecasts for the week of Aug. 10-16 featured a mix of MLB, golf, NFL preseason football, WNBA, NASCAR, and Little League baseball. CBS' final-round coverage of the PGA TOUR's FedEx St. Jude Championship ranked as the week's No. 1 live sports event with 3.8 million viewers on Sunday, Aug. 16, and the tournament aced four additional spots: CBS' third round at No. 3 and Golf Channel windows at No. 16 (third-round bonus coverage, 3:00-3:19 p.m.), No. 21 (final-round early action, 11:58 a.m.-1:59 p.m.), and No. 23 (third-round early action, 12:58-2:59 p.m.).

FOX's regional Baseball Night in America coverage of Red Sox-Pirates, Diamondbacks-Braves, and Brewers-Dodgers ranked No. 2 with 3.1 million viewers on Saturday, Aug. 15, and MLB secured four more placements with Mariners-Astros on NBC (No. 7), Cardinals-Cubs on ABC (No. 10), the Field of Dreams Game between the Phillies and Twins on Netflix (No. 11), and Mariners-Yankees on ESPN (No. 20).

NFL preseason football blocked six spots, all on NFL Network: Rams-Chiefs (No. 5), Packers-Steelers (No. 6), Cowboys-Seahawks (No. 8), Browns-Bears (No. 12), Titans-49ers (No. 15), and Buccaneers-Jets (No. 18).

The WNBA netted five positions with Fever-Dream on ESPN (No. 4), Liberty-Fever on ESPN (No. 9), Lynx-Aces on CBS (No. 13), Wings-Fever on ION (No. 14), and Fire-Mercury on ESPN (No. 19).

Little League baseball on ESPN drove in two spots with Darien, CT-Bayonne, NJ (No. 24) and Kapa'a, HI-Bonita, CA (No. 25). USA Network's NASCAR Cup Series race from Richmond took No. 17, and ABC's coverage of the Patriot Games secured No. 22.

World Cup and NBA Finals Drive 118% Broadcast Sports Increase in June GaugeThe FIFA World Cup and NBA Finals drove a 118% increase in broadcast sports viewing in June, lifting broadcast to a 19.8% share of total TV time for the month - its first June increase since Nielsen launched the Gauge report in 2021, according to The Wrap. Cable moved in the opposite direction, dipping 2% to a 19.5% share on the absence of the NBA and NHL playoffs, which produced a 10% monthly decline in cable sports viewing. Streaming accounted for 48.5% of TV viewing, up roughly 3% from May but just short of the 3.1% increase in total TV usage.

Scotty Scheffler's Win Draws Big Ratings in FedEx Cup PlayoffsAn average of 3.79 million viewers tuned into to CBS on Sunday for the final round of the FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis, marking the most-watched final round of the PGA Tour's FedExCup playoffs since 2013. Front Office Sports reports Sunday's audience peaked at 4.9 million viewers as Scottie Scheffler won his first tournament since January and passed Rory McIlroy on the all-time career earnings list. Meanwhile, ESPN averaged 396,000 and 452,000 views for its two-hour morning coverage windows of the first and second rounds, respectively, which was the first time the network has aired live playoff action.

ESPN Delivers the Most-Watched WNBA Game Ever on CableESPN posted the most-watched WNBA game ever on cable as Atlanta Dream-Indiana Fever averaged 2.6 million viewers on Sunday, Aug. 16. The telecast ranks as the most-watched WNBA regular-season or postseason game on record for cable, up 178% against last year's ESPN regular-season average, and peaked at 4 million viewers from 7:15 to 7:29 p.m. ET. Lead-in coverage from WNBA Countdown presented by Google Pixel averaged 452,000 viewers on ESPN, up 33% year over year. The second game of the network's Sunday doubleheader also set a mark: Portland Fire-Phoenix Mercury, which featured Diana Taurasi's jersey retirement, averaged 1.4 million viewers to become the most-watched non-Indiana regular-season WNBA game ever on ESPN, up 46% against last year's ESPN regular-season average. Through 25 games, the WNBA on ESPN networks is averaging 1.4 million viewers, up 16% from the comparable point last season.

FOX Saturday Baseball Posts the Week's Top MLB TelecastFOX Saturday Baseball averaged 3,083,000 viewers for a three-game slate highlighted by the Brewers' 4-1 win over the Dodgers in most of the country, making it the most-watched MLB telecast of the week on any network and the package's second-best performance of the season. The window was up 57% against last year's FOX Saturday Baseball average of 1,960,000 and peaked at 3,300,000 viewers from 9:30 to 9:43 p.m. ET. Local home-market ratings were led by Milwaukee (9.1/33), followed by Boston (6.2/26), Pittsburgh (5.5/20), Los Angeles (3.5/20), Atlanta (3.4/17), and Phoenix (2.6/14).

Netflix's First MLB Special Event Draws 1.66 Million From DyersvilleMLB's first game at the Field of Dreams movie site in four years averaged 1.66 million viewers on Netflix on Thursday night, according to Nielsen data reported by the Associated Press. The Phillies-Twins matchup in Dyersville, IA, marked the first time Netflix has carried one of the le

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