SKEDBALL: Weekend Sports TV Ratings

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The ratings below are household ratings from the 56 television markets with local Nielsen meters for Saturday June 15 and Sunday June 16, 2013. (The 56 markets out of 210 total cover about 70% of the US television population.)

The second major tournament on the golf calendar was down from last year to a fairly mediocre level.  Tiger Woods made the cut into the weekend but was really never in contention.  While Saturday was way down from last year, Sunday was relatively decent, as Phil Mickelson came excruciatingly close to his first US Open win but had to settle for his 6th second place finish instead.

GOLF — US OPEN

NBC Sat 1:00-8:15 pm Third Round 4.4 rating (-20% from 5.5 rating last year from 4:00-10:30 pm)

NBC Sun 1:00-7:45 pm Final Round 6.1 rating (-8% from 6.6 rating last year from 4:00-10:30 pm)

COMBINED WEEKEND COVERAGE 5.25 rating (-13% from 6.05 rating last year)

• Even an event like the US Open has a “hometown” effect, depending on where the tournament is played.  Merion golf course, just outside downtown Philadelphia in the tony Main Line suburb, hosted the US Open this year.  Sunday’s final round averaged a very solid 8.2 rating in Philadelphia (the #4 market in the country), far above the other mega-markets: New York 5.6 rating (#1 market size), Los Angeles 5.1 rating (#2), Chicago 5.9 rating (#3), Dallas 5.2 rating (#5), San Francisco 4.8 rating (#6), Boston 6.8 rating (#7), Washington DC 6.0 rating (#8).
• Nationally, the final round coverage 6.1 rating was certainly skewed to the end of the telecast.  The final round started at a 3.4 rating in the 1:00 pm half hour and peaked at a 9.4 rating in the 7:00 half hour.

NBA remains the sport to watch this time of year, although still 10% below last year’s pace.

NBA — Finals

ABC Sun 8:00 pm Miami-San Antonio Game 5 11.4 household rating (-10% from Game 5 OKC-MIA 12.6 rating Thu June 21 9:00 pm last year)

NASCAR aired on ABC and TNT this weekend and each race declined from the same network configuration last year.

NASCAR

ABC Sat 2:15 pm Michigan 250 1.2 rating (-25% from 1.6 rating last year at 4:00 pm)

TNT Sun 1:00 pm Michigan 400 2.6 rating (-13% from 3.0 rating last year)

The NHL Stanley Cup Final is really starting to take-off.  Two “original six” teams, with each time winning one of the two overtime games to start the series.  It can’t set up any better than that.

NHL — Stanley Cup Final

NBC Sports Network Sat 8:00 pm Boston-Chicago Game 2 2-OT 2.9 rating (+107% from NJ-LA Game 3 1.4 rating Mon June 4 at 8:00 pm last year)

MLB down another 17% this week.

MLB — Regular Season Week #11

FOX Sat 7:15 pm WAS-CLE CHW-HOU NYY-LAA DET-MIN SEA-OAK 1.9 rating (-17% from 2.3 rating last year, also 5-game regional at 7:15 pm)