Ratings Roundup: A Quick Look at the Numbers of NFL, College Football, Stanley Cup, NBA Playoffs, U.S. Open, and More By Kristian Hernandez, Associate Editor
Friday, September 25, 2020 - 1:22 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
Ratings roundup is a rundown of rating news from the past week and is derived from press releases and reports around the industry. In this week's edition, numbers from Week 2 of the NFL and college football, the 2020 Stanley Cup, the NBA playoffs in the bubble, and U.S. Open roll in.
NFL Week 2
ESPN's Monday Night Football MegaCast featuring the New Orleans Saints and Las Vegas Raiders delivered an average audience of 15,590,000 viewers, a 31% year-over-year viewership increase. The viewership for Las Vegas' inaugural NFL game, which includes the audiences across ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPN Deportes, is MNF's best in eight games, dating back to November 2019 (Seattle at San Francisco) and the franchise's second-best in 24 games (November 2018, Kansas City at LA Rams).
Locally, Las Vegas scored its highest local rating for an MNF game in a decade, delivering a 22.1 local rating. Of the 44 markets available, Las Vegas was easily the highest, followed by San Francisco (16.2) and San Diego (15.6).
Other markets include:
Sacramento (14.6)
Seattle-Tacoma (14.2)
Denver, Kansas City (13.2)
Nashville (12.9)
Austin (12.3)
Los Angeles (12.0)
ESPN's MegaCast helped ESPN and ABC become the No. 1 and No. 2 networks in primetime across households, as well as all key male and people demos
Fox's NFL Week 2 slate drew 16.9 million viewers, up 10% over last season's comparable singleheader (15.3 million)
On digital, the networks average minute audience was 711,000. NFL and Verizon streaming services is up 96% over last year's regional and national windows. Through two weeks, streaming sup 84% in average minute audience and 41% in unique streamers
Total viewership of last week's Thursday Night Football Presented by Bud Light Platinum game featuring the Cleveland Browns' 35-30 win over the Cincinnati Bengals was 7.2 million viewers (TV Digital).
The 7.2 million viewers for Bengals-Browns on TV and Digital is up 3% versus last year's Week 2 Thursday Night Football matchup between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Carolina Panthers (7.0 million) and was the most-watched telecast of the day on Thursday.
Digital streaming across NFL digital platforms, Bengals and Browns mobile properties, and Verizon Media mobile properties delivered an average minute audience of 522K - the highest digital average minute audience ever for an NFL Network exclusive game. Additionally, digital audience increased 49% versus last year's Week 2 Thursday Night Football matchup between the Buccaneers-Panthers (349K)
Sunday's NFL national window (Chiefs-Chargers in 73% of markets) averaged a 10.1 rating and 18.87 million viewers on CBS, marking the lowest Week 2 rating in the window since at least 2000 and smallest audience since 2007 (17.44M).
The telecast, which also included Ravens-Texans in 27% of markets, declined 23% in ratings and 19% in viewership from Week 2 on FOX last year (mostly Saints-Rams: 13.2, 23.34M) and down 16% and 10% respectively from 2018 on CBS (mostly Patriots-Jaguars: 12.0, 20.97M).
The early doubleheader window (mostly Giants-Bears or Broncos-Steelers) had just a 5.4 (-41%) and 9.75 million (-39%), the least-watched Sunday window on broadcast since Week 17 in 2018 (8.89M). The two CBS windows were the only ones in Week 2 to decline (SportsMediaWatch)
College Football Week 2
According to Nielsen live-plus-same-day data, ratings for the first few weeks of nationally televised college football are down significantly compared to last season, which kicked off with a far more compelling roster of late-summer games. Last Saturday's games averaged 1.3 million viewers and a 0.8 household rating, which marked a decline of 40% and 43%, respectively, compared to 2.18 million viewers/1.4 rating in the compatible windows a year ago.
CBS took the biggest hit of the weekend, as deliveries for its Saturday 3:30 p.m. ET window plummeted 75%. Little wonder: Last year's game, which featured No. 8 Alabama and their SEC cohorts from South Carolina, averaged 4.95 million viewers and a 3.0 rating, making it the most-watched collegiate broadcast of the week. This time around, CBS was saddled with an inter-conference skirmish between the Sun Belt's Appalachian State and Conference USA's Marshall; per Nielsen, the Thundering Herd's 17-7 upset of the Mountaineers averaged just 1.25 million viewers and a 0.7 rating.
ABC got a boost from a favorable year-ago comp, as its presentation of an ACC intrigue between Miami and Louisville averaged 3.8 million viewers and a 2.1 rating in primetime, up 5% versus the 3.62 million viewers who tuned in for last year's Clemson's 41-6 blowout of Syracuse. (ABC's household ratings were down two-tenths of a point, or 9%. The disparity between overall viewership and the household ratings is largely a function of the impact the addition of out-of-home impressions is having on the final tallies. In other words, while the total audience is getting a bit of a lift from fans watching in bars, gyms and restaurants, the more prosaic household rating isn't seeing any benefit from the inflation.)
ABC's cable siblings had another rough outing, as ESPN's Saturday triple-header averaged 960,000 viewers and a 0.6 rating, down 51% and 45%, respectively, compared to its year-ago 1.94 million/1.1, while deliveries for ESPN2's suite of college games dropped 56% to just 317,000 viewers. Again, the quality of the matchups would seem to have been a factor in ESPN's ratings declines; a year ago the network featured the No. 6 Florida Gators vs. Ken
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
31/05/2026
Olivia P rez-Collellmir to Premiere Original Work at Gaud Centennial in Barcelona The Berklee graduate and faculty member will debut her choral symphony with...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Zero in on one that says yes (and no)
Andy Marken May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Hero image courtesy of Deposit Photos
For content creators the most difficu...
29/05/2026
With InfoComm 2026 just weeks away, NDI is giving attendees plenty of reasons to...
29/05/2026
Reaffirming a partnership that has defined Canadian sports broadcasting since 19...
29/05/2026
Mobile/tablet is No. 2 device for watching TV, suggesting that the sports-production industry needs to take another look at the format
Ring Digital's Sprin...
29/05/2026
Berliner Ensemble, one of Berlin's five major theater companies, has expande...
29/05/2026
Solid State Logic will showcase its new compact, fly-away TCA Tour audio product...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, passed away last month on April 12 ...
29/05/2026
Paramount+ will be the English-language U.S. home for Barclays Women's Super...
29/05/2026
Further strengthening its virtualisation strategy to fully support broadcasters ...
29/05/2026
Swiss broadcaster Canal Alpha has deployed Harmonic's award-winning, software-based XOS Advanced Media Processor to modernize playout operations across cant...
29/05/2026
PTZOptics will showcase a new generation of intelligent video workflows at InfoComm 2026, June 17-19, Las Vegas. Visitors to booth N8227 will see how PTZOptics ...
29/05/2026
Arizona's Family has launched the Arizona's Family Sports (AZFS) streaming app, a new direct-to-consumer destination for live, local sports. The app is ...
29/05/2026
Starting in 2027, DAZN will be the exclusive home of The Canadian Football Leagu...
29/05/2026
Comcast Business has detailed the advanced network infrastructure it has deploye...
29/05/2026
In two-day event, leaders from academia and industry explored solutions to chall...
29/05/2026
The Basketball Tournament (TBT), now entering their 13th year of competition, ha...
29/05/2026
Roku has launched FOX One as a Premium Subscription on The Roku Channel in the U.S. Roku customers can now subscribe to FOX One using their Roku account for liv...
29/05/2026
In its sixth year, the broadcaster's coverage has become a global brand and ...
29/05/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent ratings news and is derived from press re...
29/05/2026
The days are getting longer, the temperatures are rising, and playlists are filling up for the season. With summer around the corner, Spotify's global edito...
29/05/2026
New retro-inspired MPC announced
There are few devices that have gained the status held by Akai Pro's MPC range, and in recent years, the company have s...
29/05/2026
Save up to 30 on acclaimed titles
Following a successful launch at Superbooth 2026, Bjooks have revealed that they will be continuing the Kickstarter campa...
29/05/2026
Binaural monitoring application improved
Genelec have just released an update that brings some powerful new features to their HRTF-based binaural headphone ...
29/05/2026
6 June 2026 at SAE Institute, London, UK
IMSTA FESTA 2026 is almost upon us, with some of the biggest names in pro-audio set to descend upon SAE Institute i...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, died April 12, 2026, at his home in...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Comparing 5 AI Video Enhancers for Restoring Old Video Quality
Kate Luvis May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Digitizing VHS, MiniDV, and other legacy formats doe...
29/05/2026
Studio Hamburg Builds New Post Pipeline with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Workflow replaces a patchwork of legacy tools...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
At the Intersection of Music and Dance, an Epic Collaboration Boston Conservatory musicians and dancers found creative parallels in their recent performance o...
29/05/2026
Back to All News
Latino Film Institute Fellows Screen Their Short Films at the Egyptian Theatre
The Inclusion Fellowship and Spark Animation Grant uplifts 15 ...
29/05/2026
GLOOKAST LAUNCHES CINNAFILM TACHYON PLUGIN FOR MEDIA PRODUCER AND MEDIA SERVICES
This release first appeared here.
Visit our Tachyon product page or contact...
29/05/2026
May 29 2026, 09:00 (PDT) Dolby and rednote Bring More Immersive Storytelling to...
29/05/2026
Something fundamental has shifted in how people consume media. Audiences aren't abandoning television or radio content; they're just expanding how, wher...
29/05/2026
Youtube exclusive special drops today
Watch now
UKTV today announces another e...
Ratings Roundup: A Quick Look at the Numbers of NFL, College Football, Stanley Cup, NBA Playoffs, U.S. Open, and More By Kristian Hernandez, Associate Editor 
