While ESPN experienced an 11 percent decline in total-day viewership year-to-year — a year after its World Cup soccer coverage as well as its premier program “Monday Night Football” being down 3 percent (12.9 million vs. 2014’s 13.35 million) — the network was still the clear cable leader in primetime, drawing nearly 18 percent more total audience than its closest competitor, Fox News Channel.
NBCSN continued its growth momentum with the acquisition of NASCAR, boosting its primetime total-viewer average by 22 percent.
Women’s World Cup and Bundesliga soccer, UFC, college football, U.S. Open golf, and MLB regular season and postseason coverage provided significant double-digit percentage gains for each FS1 and FS2.
With the emergence of Jordan Spieth and Jason Day alongside Rory McIlroy, Golf Channel grew one percent in total-day viewership from 2014, marking it as the network’s second-best year (behind only 2013) in its 20-year history.
MLB Network, which has seen viewer increases each year in recent years, scored its most-watched yearly period in 2015, both in total day and in primetime.
Prime Time (8-11 p.m.)
| NETWORK | VWRS in 2015 (000) |
PCT CHG from 2014 (vwrs 000) |
PCT CHG from 2013 (vwrs 000) |
PCT CHG from 2012 (vwrs 000) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ESPN | 2148 | -7.45% (2321) |
-2.10% (2194) |
-7.69% (2327) |
| ESPN2 | 436 | -7.04% (469) |
-9.36% (481) |
-7.04% (469) |
| ESPNU * | 115 | -0.86% (116) |
+0.87% (115) |
— |
| ESPNEWS | 91 | -9.00% (100) |
-12.50% (104) |
-10.78% (102) |
| NBCSN | 367 | +22.33% (300) |
+32.49% (277) |
+52.28% (241) |
| FS1 * | 397 | +16.76% (340) |
+70.39% (233) |
+102.55% (196) |
| FS2 * | 39 | +69.57% (23) |
+11.43% (35) |
+2.63% (38) |
| NFLN | 398 | +3.38% (385) |
-0.50% (400) |
+5.85% (376) |
| NBATV | 109 | -14.84% (128) |
-6.03% (116) |
-10.66% (122) |
| GOLF | 124 | +0.81% (123) |
-10.14% (138) |
-8.82% (136) |
| MLBN | 142 | +7.58% (132) |
+1.43% (140) |
+33.96% (106) |
Total Day (6 a.m.-5:59 a.m.)
| NETWORK | VWRS in 2015 (000) |
PCT CHG from 2014 (vwrs 000) |
PCT CHG from 2013 (vwrs 000) |
PCT CHG from 2012 (vwrs 000) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ESPN | 906 | -10.83% (1016) |
-6.60% (970) |
-10.74% (1015) |
| ESPN2 | 269 | -1.82% (274) |
-1.82% (274) |
-4.61% (282) |
| ESPNU * | 56 | -9.68% (62) |
-6.67% (60) |
— |
| ESPNEWS | 55 | -8.33% (60) |
-15.38% (65) |
-17.91% (67) |
| NBCSN | 153 | +3.38% (148) |
+62.77% (94) |
+50.00% (102) |
| FS1 * | 164 | +25.19% (131) |
+37.82% (119) |
+40.17% (117) |
| FS2 * | 22 | +46.67% (15) |
no chg (22) |
+10.00% (20) |
| NFLN | 163 | -0.61% (164) |
+1.24% (161) |
+7.95% (151) |
| NBATV | 51 | -12.07% (58) |
-7.27% (55) |
-13.56% (59) |
| GOLF | 101 | +1.00% (100) |
-6.48% (108) |
+6.32% (95) |
| MLBN | 82 | +15.49% (71) |
+20.59% (68) |
+54.72% (53) |
Source: Live+Same Day data, Nielsen Media Research
The year period of 2015 is from Dec. 29, 2014 to Dec. 27, 2015.
The year period of 2014 is from Dec. 30, 2013 to Dec. 28, 2014.
The year period of 2013 is from Dec. 31, 2012 to Dec. 29, 2013.
The year period of 2012 is from Dec. 26, 2011 to Dec. 30, 2012.
* In 2012, ESPNU was not rated by Nielsen, Fox Sports 1 (FS1) was known as Speed Channel and Fox Sports 2 (FS2) was known as Fuel.
Comments are closed.