The tape delayed broadcast of the USA Ultimate College Championships finals and highlight show fell in the middle of the ratings pack of ESPNU's programming last week, according to Nielsen Media Research.
June 7, 2013 by Charlie Eisenhood in News with 10 comments
The tape delayed broadcast of the USA Ultimate College Championships finals and highlight show fell in the middle of the ratings pack of ESPNU’s programming last week, according to Nielsen Media Research.
The top-drawing show was the Open Finals, which was seen by 86,000 people. It was the 26th most watched show on the network in the week from May 27th to June 2nd. The highlight show came in second with 66,000 viewers and a 30th overall ranking. The Women’s finals was just below that, with 58,000 viewers and a 33rd overall ranking.
Those numbers, while encouraging, pale in comparison to the CBS Sports Network draw from last year, which USA Ultimate has repeatedly said was 600,000 people.
The broadcast did outdraw the shows in the same time slots from the previous week.
UPDATE: USA Ultimate clarified that the 600,000 figure was from a highlights show that aired on CBS on a Sunday afternoon. That was not the amount of people that watched the actual finals broadcast on CBS Sports Network, a channel that is not tracked by Nielsen.
Comparing the two figures, then, is basically useless. Had one of the major broadcast networks or ESPN showed a highlights show, it would have pulled a significantly higher number of viewers.
FURTHER READING: Social Media Suggests ESPNU Broadcast Had Big Impact
Link via Reddit user thisisultimate.
