Now that 2015 is over, let’s take a look back at the themes of our sports viewing on television. Thanks to Paulsen at Sports Media Watch, we have the Top 50 Most-Watched Sporting Events of 2015 and there are several trends we can cull from the list. From our habits, we know we’re a football-watching nation. We love our football. Also, we love winners as is the case of the U.S. Women’s Soccer team and when there’s a potential Triple Crown champion in horse racing.
But as we look at the numbers, let’s delve into what we watched this year and why:
1. Football, Football, Football
If there’s a sport that Americans can’t get watch enough, it’s football. Whether it’s the NFL or college football, we watch football. In the Top 20 of Paulsen’s list, the first 16 spots are occupied by pro or college football games. Of course the number one most-watched event was Super Bowl XLIX which had 114.4 million viewers. After that, NFL playoff games occupy the next five spots and it isn’t until number seven where a college football event breaks that pro football logjam.
The College Football Playoff Championship game between Ohio State and Oregon in the ESPN megacast which had a cable TV record of 31.5 million viewers is the most-watched non-NFL game in the Top 50.
2. Within the Top 50, it’s hard for other sports to break through
When you factor the NFL into the mix, it’s difficult for other sports to find a spot, although the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship between Duke and Wisconsin sits firmly at number 17 with 28.26 million viewers. This year’s Championship may not get as many as the game will air on TBS instead of CBS.
The next non-football game in the Top 50 is the Women’s World Cup Final between the USA and Japan on Fox and Telemundo which averaged 26.7 million viewers combined and is at number 26.
You have to go to number 40 for the next non-football game on the list and that is Game 6 of the NBA Finals between Golden State and Cleveland which had 23.25 million viewers on ABC.
And the last non-football event in the Top 50 is the Wisconsin-Kentucky NCAA Final Four game on TBS/TNT/truTV which received a combined 22.63 million viewers and is entrenched at number 44.
3. What if you don’t factor the NFL in?
Well, Paulsen has done that as well with a Top 50 Most-Watched Non-NFL Events list. College football dominates three of the top four with the College Football Playoff Championship and Semifinals. Duke vs. Wisconsin NCAA Championship Final is number 3 and the Women’s World Cup Final is number five.
It’s on that list where the NBA shines with four spots in the top ten, all of which are NBA Finals games.
Then the Belmont Stakes race where American Pharoah broke a 38 year drought in the Triple Crown and averaged 18.6 million viewers on NBC.
4. Where’s baseball?
The first baseball game on the list on the Non-NFL list is Game 5 of the World Series on Fox between the New York Mets and Kansas City Royals is at number 15 with 17.21 million viewers. After that, the next baseball game is Game 1 of the World Series at number 19 with 14.94 million.
5. What about golf? NASCAR?
Now you’re stretching. Once again, The Masters on CBS was the most-watched golfing event of the year at number 22 on the non-NFL list with 14.23 million for the final round.
For NASCAR, the Daytona 500 on Fox hit number 25 with 13.36 million and the next NASCAR event was the Sprint Cup race in Atlanta on NBC at number 37 averaging 9.5 million viewers.
Overall, our takeaway is that if you remove football, sports fans would embrace basketball. And unfortunately for hockey fans, the NHL is nowhere on the Top 50 non-NFL list.
So it’s football and there’s no reason to believe that it won’t dominate again in 2016.
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