Ratings Roundup: ESPN Tips Off College Hoops; NHRA Up on Fox Over Last Year on ESPN

Ratings roundup is a rundown of ratings news from the past week and is derived from press releases and reports around the web. In this week’s edition, ESPN’s Champions Classic and Armed Forces Classic, ESPN’s big overnight for Louisville’s loss, UFC 205: Alvarez vs. McGregor shoulder programming on Fox and FS1, NHRA sees growth on Fox and FS1, NFL Week 10, ESPN/ABC College Football Week 11, the USA-Mexico World Cup qualifier, the CFL Playoffs on TSN, and more.

NBC’s Thursday Night Football Debut Draws 13.6 TAD
Last night’s Carolina Panthers’ 23-20 victory over the New Orleans Saints on Thursday Night Footballaveraged a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of 13.6 million viewers across all platforms – NBC, NFL Network, Twitter, NBC Sports Digital, and NFL Digital, according to Fast National data released today by The Nielsen Company, and digital data from Adobe Analytics and Twitter. Total Audience Delivery measures broader consumption by calculating average minute viewing across broadcast, cable, and digital.

NBC’s first-ever telecast of Thursday Night Football last night averaged 13.3 million TV-only viewers – ranking as the network’s most-watched Thursdaynight show in November since 2006, excluding Thanksgiving nights (13.4 million viewers for ER on 11/30/06).

TV viewership on NBC and NFL Network peaked at 15.8 million from 9:45-10 p.m. ET. Last night’s game (8:27-11:38 p.m. ET) registered a national household TV rating of 8.1/15.

The Average Minute Audience (AMA) for last night’s live stream via Twitter, NBC Sports Digital, and NFL Digital was 305,000 viewers.

In total, Twitter reached 3.4 million combined worldwide viewers for pregame coverage and Saints-Panthers for a minimum of three seconds with that video being 100% in view. For the Thursday Night Football game alone, Twitter reached 2.9 million viewers. This is the most total viewers for a Thursday Night Football game on Twitter this season (through six games). The average audience (AMA) watching Thursday Night Football on Twitter properties was 209,000.

Big Numbers for ESPN’s College Hoops Tipoff
No. 7 Kansas’ 77-75 upset-win over top-ranked Duke during the second game of ESPN’s annual State Farm Champions Classic on Tuesday, Nov. 15 earned a total live audience (TV+ streaming) of 2,444,000 viewers, up 28 percent from last year’s Kansas vs. Michigan State game (1,906,000 viewers). The streaming audience of 83,000 average minute viewers is ESPN’s most streamed men’s college basketball game ever, topping last year’s Kentucky vs. Duke Champions Classic game (78,000 viewers).

The first game of the doubleheader, No. 2 Kentucky’s 68-49 win over No. 13 Michigan State saw total live audience of 2,150,000 viewers, including a streaming audience of 67,000 average viewers – a top five men’s regular season streaming audience ever for ESPN. The two Champions Classic games combined had a streaming average minute audience of 76,000 viewers, up 21 percent over the 2015 event.

In between the Champions Classic doubleheader, the latest edition of the College Football Playoff committee rankings were exclusively unveiled on College Football Playoff: Top 25 (approx. 9 p.m.). The 30-minute special earned a total live audience of 2,726,000 viewers.

…The second game of ESPN’s Armed Forces Classic doubleheader – No. 11 Indiana’s 103-99 overtime, upset-win against No. 3 Kansas on college basketball’s opening night – is the most-watched game in the five-year history of the event with a total live audience (TV + streaming) of 1,592,000 viewers. The first game of the doubleheader – No. 10 Arizona’s 65-63 thrilling victory against No. 12 Michigan State – is now the third-most watched with a total live audience of 1,222,000 viewers behind the inaugural Armed Forces Classic in 2012 featuring UConn’s upset over Michigan State (1,290,000 viewers)…

Louisville Loss is ESPN’s Gain
ESPN’s Thursday night telecast featuring No. 5 Louisville at Houston (8 p.m. ET) last night earned a 1.8 overnight rating on TV and a streaming average minute audience of 77,000 viewers and a total of 354,000 unique viewers watching 17,100,000 minutes. The overnight for the Cougars’ 36-10 victory is the most-watched Thursday college football game of the season across all networks and up 260% from last season’s week 12 Thursday night game (East Carolina at Central Florida). The streaming audience was the highest ever, in all three metrics, for a Thursday game which aired on ESPN and was up 541%, 372%, and 565%, respectively, in average minute audience, unique viewers and total minutes watched from the previously mentioned the Pirates-Knights game.

NHRA Sees Growth on Fox, FS1
The inaugural season of NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series on FOX and FS1 wrapped up the first season of a multiyear partnership last weekend in Pomona, CA, as 24 events averaged 634,000 viewers, a 24% increase over their performance on ESPN and ESPN 2 last year (513,000). Four events (Las Vegas, Atlanta, Englishtown and Indianapolis), topped the one-million viewer mark, with four more scoring at least 750,000 viewers. The FOX Sports audience also trended younger throughout the season, as NHRA on FOX/FS1 events finished up 47% among P18-49 (162,000 vs. 110,000) and 43% among P25-54 (218,000 vs. 152,000)…

UFC 205: Alvarez vs. McGregor Shoulder Programming Delivers for Fox
UFC 205: Alvarez vs. McGregor set multiple attendance and viewership records, though the final PPV numbers are not yet available. The prelims on FS1 were th most viewed pay-per-view prelims in FS1 history for the 18-49 demographic. On FOX, 2.4 million viewers for “Fighting for History” special focused on UFC 205: Alvarez vs. McGregor, marking the most viewed preview show in UFC history.

NFL Week 10 Roundup
Week 10’s AMERICA’S GAME OF THE WEEK on FOX, featuring the Dallas Cowboys and Pittsburgh Steelers, was the highest-rated and most-watched game of the 2016 NFL season, delivering FOX Sports an impressive 28.88 million viewers on average, with a huge 16.4/30 household rating/share (according Nielsen Fast Nationals). Season-to-date, AGOTW is averaging a 14.7/28 with 25.9 million viewers. While that is off just -3% from last year’s audience (26.8 million viewers) on FOX, it still easily ranks as the highest-rated and most-watched program in all of television this year.

Season-to-date, FOX NFL SUNDAY pregame show is averaging a 3.0/8 and 4.73 million viewers, up +30% over its direct competition, CBS’s NFL Today (vs. 2.3/6 – 3.52 million viewers). Thus far in 2016, FOX NFL KICKOFF is averaging a 0.8/2 and 1.24 million viewers, up +14% compared to last year’s 0.7/2 and 1.07 million viewers…

…NBC Sunday Night Football’s Super Bowl XLIX rematch in which the Seahawks beat the Patriots averaged a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of 22.7 million viewers across NBC and NBC Sports Digital platforms – marking the most-watched Week 10 NFL primetime game since 1998 (according to Nielsen Fast Nationals and Adobe Analytics). The NBC-only broadcast of Seahawks-Patriots averaged 22.51 million viewers — ranking as the most-watched Week 10 NFL primetime game in 18 years (22.54 million for Packers-Steelers on ABC’s MNF, 11/9/98). In addition, the 22.5 million viewers topped last year’s Week 10 SNF game by 16% (19.4 million for Cardinals-Seahawks).

NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports App registered 956,000 uniques for Seahawks-Patriots – NBC’s highest-ever total for a Sunday NFL game, excluding Super Bowls. Last night’s uniques is also up 121% from last year’s Week 10 SNF game (433,000). The Average Minute Audience (AMA) for last night’s live stream via the NBC Sports app, NBCSports.com, NBC.com ‘TV Everywhere,’ and NFL Mobile from Verizon was 189,000 viewers.

NBC-only viewership for Seahawks-Patriots peaked at 24.5 million from 9:30-9:45 p.m. ET, while the closing minutes of the game (11:30-11:43 p.m. ET) averaged 23.0 million viewers. The game’s (8:32-11:43 p.m. ET) registered a TV-only national household rating of 12.7/22 – up 11% from Cardinals-Seahawks last year (11.4/20)…

ESPN/ABC College Football Week 11
… ABC’s Saturday Night Football featuring Michigan at Iowa (8 p.m. ET) was the most-watched game of week 11 across all networks as it delivered a total live audience (TV + streaming) of 6,539,000 viewers. The total live audience for Iowa’s last-second, 14-13 victory was up 10% compared to 2015’s week 11 Saturday Night Football game (Oklahoma at Baylor). The TV audience for the Big Ten game (6,442,000 viewers) peaked at 10,021,000 viewers during the Hawkeyes’ game-winning drive (11:15 p.m. – 11:30 p.m.) and led to the ABC  being the most-watched prime time network across households, viewers and all key demos: men 18-34, men 18-49, men 25-54 and persons 18-34, persons 18-49 and persons 25-54.

Throughout all week 11, ESPN saw an increase in fans streaming its games, with average minute audience 7%, total unique viewers up 19% and total minutes up 7% compared to last season’s week 11.

Mississippi State at Alabama (noon on ESPN) had A total live audience of 3,333,000 viewers, up 87% from last year’s comparable game (Florida at South Carolina) and ESPN’s most-watched noon game of the 2016 season. Ohio State at Maryland (3:30 p.m. on ESPN) had a total live audience of 2,340,000 viewers, up 31% from last year’s comparable game (Oklahoma State at Iowa State). Pittsburgh at Clemson (3:30 p.m. on ABC) had a total live audience of 4,979,000 viewers, the third most-watched game window of the weekend across all networks. ABC’s TV audience (4,926,000 viewers) peaked with 8,340,000 viewers during the game’s final minutes (7:15 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.) which culminated with a game-winning field goal by the Panthers. Regional Action featuring Penn State at Indiana or Baylor at Oklahoma (noon on ABC) delivered a total live audience of 3,778,000 viewers, most-watched noon game window across all networks…

USA-Mexico Delivers for Univision, FS1
Friday’s USA-Mexico World Cup qualifying match on Univision Network, simulcast on Univision Deportes, reached 7.7 million P2+, and averaged 4.6 million P2+ and 2.5 million Adults 18-49. This marks the best rated World Cup qualifier match on any network since the USA and Mexico match in March 2013. The English-language telecast on FS1 registered 1.262 million viewers.

CFL Playoffs on TSN
The CFL Playoffs doubleheader on Nov. 13 scored season-high audiences on TSN (according to overnight data from Numeris), The CFL’s Eastern and Western Semi-Finals marked an increase of 14% compared to last year. The Western Semi-Final featuring Winnipeg @ BC attracted an average audience of1.1 million viewers on TSN, as BC quarterback Jonathon Jennings scored his second rushing touchdown of the game late in the fourth quarter as the Lions stormed back to defeat the Blue Bombers 32-31. The Eastern Semi-Final featuring Edmonton @ Hamilton attracted an average audience of 903,000 viewers on TSN, as Edmonton secured a dramatic 24-21 victory over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Sean Whyte’s nine-yard field goal with seven seconds remaining…