Ratings Roundup: Warriors-Spurs Hands ESPN Best Non-Xmas NBA Overnight of Season; Telemundo, Univision Score with World Cup Qualifiers

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, ESPN earns its best NBA non-Christmas overnight of the season for Warriors-Spurts, Univision Deportes’ and Telemundo Deportes get big audiences for FIFA World Cup Qualifiers, ESPN is the top-rated full-time cable network in key male demos in Q1, MLB Network earns three of its most-watched weeks ever thanks to the World Baseball Classic, and Golf Channel posts its eighth consecutive quarter of year-over-year viewership growth.

…Wednesday’s Golden State Warriors-San Antonio Spurs telecast on ESPN, a possible Western Conference Finals preview, delivered a 1.9 metered market rating, making it the best NBA overnight rating on ESPN this season, excluding Christmas. The telecast peaked with a 2.2 rating at both 11:15 and 11:45 p.m. ET. The Warriors-Spurs matchup also delivered a top five ESPN NBA streaming audience this season, which included an average minute audience of 87,000 viewers, 287,000 unique viewers and 13.8 million total minutes viewed…

…Univision Deportes’ broadcast of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers on Friday, March 24, delivered record-breaking results reaching a combined total of 9.2 million Total Viewers P2+ on Univision and UniMás. The evening’s first match, Mexico vs. Costa Rica, delivered a stellar 3.1 million Total Viewers P2+ and 1.7 million Adults 18-49 on Univision. The 2-0 Mexico win was the top-rated soccer match of the year on any network, regardless of language. The second match, USA vs. Honduras, which aired on UniMás followed by a simulcast on Univision and UDN, delivered 1.4 million Total Viewers P2+ and 746,000 Adults 18-49. The 6-0 USA win marked the highest-rated USMNT World Cup qualifier on any network, regardless of language, in nearly four years among Total Viewers P2+ and Adults 18-49 since June 18, 2013 (also USA vs. Honduras), excluding matches versus Mexico

Locally, the USA vs. Honduras match on Univision/UniMás out-delivered the same match on Fox Sports 1 among: Total Viewers P2+ in Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Houston, Dallas, Chicago, San Francisco, Phoenix and Sacramento; Adults 18-49 in Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Houston, Dallas, San Francisco, Phoenix and Sacramento; and Adults 18-34 in Los Angeles, Miami, Houston, Dallas, Chicago, San Francisco, Phoenix and Sacramento…

…Telemundo Deportes’ “Rumbo al Mundial” World Cup Qualifier between Trinidad & Tobago and Mexico, broadcast on Tuesday, March 28 at 7 pm ET, delivered 1.75 million total viewers and 937,000 adults 18-49. Locally, Mexico’s 1-0 win over Trinidad & Tobago ranked as the most watched show in the time period in Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, San Francisco, and Phoenix, among adults 18 to 49, regardless of language. The much anticipated match reached a cumulative audience of 3 million viewers in Telemundo and nearly 600,000 in Universo. The Panama vs. USA match that aired following Mexico’s win, at 10 pm ET, delivered 1.4 million total viewers and 811,000 adults 18-49. Locally, the USA’s 1-1 tie against Panama ranked as the most watched show in Spanish-language television in its time period among Adults 18-49 in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Denver and Boston.

Across TelemundoDeportes.com and the Deportes En Vivo App, Trinidad & Tobago vs. Mexico generated over 24,000 livestreams. The Panama vs. USA generated 14,500 livestreams, becoming the most livestreamed non-Mexico Qualifier for the World Cup, surpassing Trinidad y Tobago vs. USA match fromn November 17, 2015 (13,500 livestreams). On social media, Telemundo Deportes was #1 in terms of social actions among all Spanish-language sports television networks, on Tuesday, March 28. During that day, Telemundo Deportes reached 8.2 million global users and generated 946,000 native video views on Facebook, of which 527,000 were Facebook Live…

…In the first quarter of Nielsen’s 2017 (concluded March 26), ESPN was the top-rated full-time cable network in both total day and prime time among six important demographic groups:  Men 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54, and among Adults in the same three age ranges.

Significantly, while ESPN’s leadership in the male demos for every quarter goes back for years, the network’s ranking among all viewers has risen in recent years.  Just three years ago, for the first quarter of the year in prime time ESPN ranked third in the three demos for adults; 2017 was the first time the network claimed the top spot in all three.  In fact, in no quarter in history (back to at least 2002) has ESPN previously ranked no. 1 among Adults 25-54. For the three months, both ESPN and ESPN2 saw their prime-time audience grow nine percent.  Indicative of the networks’ growing appeal to Adults 25-54, they both were also up nine percent in that demographic.  Also, with the continuing uncommonly strong viewership to the news networks, for the quarter ESPN trailed only  Fox News Channel among full-time cable networks among all viewers, in both total day and prime time…

…As a result of the 2017 World Baseball Classic, MLB Network set multiple viewership records in March, including three of the channel’s four best weeks ever: March 20-26 (WBC Championship Round), March 6-12 (WBC First Round), and March 13-19 (WBC Second Round). March also marked its most-watched month ever, topping the previous record in April 2014 by 17%…

…Golf Channel posted its eighth consecutive quarter of year-over-year viewership growth with first Quarter 2017 drawing 110,000 average viewers in Total Day, +1% vs. Q1 2016. This marks 19 of 25 quarters of viewership growth since Golf Channel joined NBC Sports Group in 2011. Across first Quarter, 20.6 million unique viewers tuned into Golf Channel, increasing to 44.7 million unique viewers across Golf Channel and Golf Channel on NBC telecasts. Golf Channel’s millennial viewership in first Quarter was +60% vs. two years ago, and + 33% vs. fourth Quarter 2016. Additionally, Golf Channel continued as the most-affluent audience in all of television with the highest median household income among all measured television networks.

With two days still left in the quarter, Golf Channel marked its highest Q1 ever in total live minutes streamed with nearly 73 million, +40% vs. Q1 2016. This is the second-highest quarter ever, behind only Q3 2016, which featured the network’s first-ever live coverage of The Open. In addition, Season 7 of Feherty posted the most-watched and highest-rated episodes ever for a Golf Channel original production. Additionally, the two episodes of Feherty sitting down with Phil Mickelson ranked in the Top-5 for all sports programming across two consecutive Monday nights in March…