Ratings Roundup: Netflix and MVP Hit Viewership Highs With Tyson vs. Paul Matchup

Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press releases and reports around the industry. In this week’s edition, Prime’s TNF averages over 14 million viewers for repeat two weeks; Scripps Sports and Panthers share TV viewership is up 170%; and more.

Netflix and MVP’s Paul vs Tyson Historic Viewership Numbers

Most-Streamed Global Sporting Event Ever with a Record 65 Million Live Concurrent Streams

Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano Fight is the Most-Watched Professional Women’s Sports Event in US History

• It was a record-breaking night for Netflix.

• The Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson fight is the most-streamed sporting event ever, peaking at 65 million concurrent streams, with 38 million concurrent streams in the US.

• According to TVision, 56% of all US TV viewing between 12am and 1am EST was to the Paul vs Tyson fight.

• The Paul-Tyson fight garnered an estimated average minute audience (AMA) of 108 million live viewers globally from opening to closing bell and continued to drive viewing into the weekend with an estimated AMA of 125 million (Live+1).

• The Taylor-Serrano fight averaged an estimated 74 million live viewers globally and became the most-watched professional women’s sports event in US history with 47 million AMA in the US.

• The mega-event was the #1 title on Netflix for the week, with 46.6 million views (total hours viewed/runtime) through Sunday night.

• The event was #1 in 78 countries including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, South Africa, UK and US, and in the Top 10 in 91 countries tracked for the week of November 11-17.

• Joe Hand Promotions, the leader in premium live sports entertainment for the out-of-home market, estimates more than 1 million viewers watched the fight from over 6,000 bars and restaurants in the US, setting the record for commercial distribution of a combat sports event in the company’s 50+ year history.

• The fight generated over 1.4B owned impressions across Netflix’s global social channels.  #PaulTyson was the No. 1 trending topic worldwide on X on Friday with #Serrano at No. 2 in the US, Brazil, Spain, and Canada. The fight dominated social conversation, accounting for 11 of the Top 11 trending topics in the US.

• The Paul vs. Tyson live event was produced by Most Valuable Promotions and EverWonder.

‘The Battle for Texas’ Draws 17 Million Viewers, Monday Night Football’s Second Most-Watched Week 11 Game in the ESPN Era

In Week 11, ESPN’s Monday Night Football featured the Houston Texans at Dallas Cowboys (November 18, 8:15 p.m. ET) across ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPN Deportes, generating 17 million viewers. The significant audience joins last season’s Eagles-Chiefs Super Bowl rematch as the two most-watched MNF Week 11 games in the ESPN era (2006 – present).

Florida Panthers & Scripps Sports Announce TV Viewership Up 170%

The Florida Panthers and Scripps Sports announces that Panthers game viewership for the first 14 games of the 2024-25 regular season is up over 170%, more than double compared to telecasts last season after the Panthers moved their distribution to Scripps Sports in July 2024.

“We are extremely proud that more fans than ever before are tuning in nightly to watch our 2024 Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers games through our partnership with Scripps Sports,” says Panthers President & CEO Matt Caldwell. “We wanted to increase accessibility to Panthers games across South Florida and we are thrilled to see these early viewership metrics indicating positive growth.”

Through the first 14 games, viewership is up over 170% in the Miami/Fort Lauderdale designated market area. Throughout 2024, the top three telecasts on WSFL, Scripps Miami/Fort Lauderdale home for Panthers hockey, have been Panthers games.

With Scripps Sports broader distribution, the Panthers are measuring viewership data in the Palm Beach DMA for the first time with overwhelmingly positive results showing 2024-25 viewership has already surpassed recorded tune in from the first 14 games of last season in the Broward/Miami-Dade DMA.

“Our goal is to help the Panthers reach more of their fans, and this is a great start,” says Scripps Sports President Brian Lawlor. “This is such a strong partnership. We’re all optimistic about continued growth.”

In addition to distribution on Scripps Sports (WSFL-Miami/Fort Lauderdale, WHDT and WPTV Palm Beach, WFTX- Ft. Myers), Panthers locally broadcasted games are available through a new direct-to-consumer streaming mobile application, Panthers Plus. Powered by ViewLift, the club is seeing nearly a 43% increase year-over-year in unique streams despite fans having the most access to Panthers games than ever before on linear and over-the-air.

Commanders-Eagles on Prime Scores 15.51M on Nielsen’s Big Data + Panel Measurement

Nielsen released its Big Data + Panel measurement for Thursday’s Commanders-Eagles TNF game on Prime Video, which updated the event’s average audience to 15.51 million viewers (P2+ AMA). Commanders-Eagles stands as the most-watched TNF on Prime event in seven weeks, and the third most-watched TNF game of the season, behind Cowboys-Giants (17.61M on 9/26/24) and Bills-Dolphins (15.79M on 9/12/24).

Season to date, the 2024 TNF on Prime campaign is averaging 14.26 million viewers (P2+) in Nielsen’s Big Data + Panel measurement. Across key demographics, Thursday’s viewership and season averages are below.

P18-34:   2.97M (Thurs.); 3.01M (2024 Avg.)

P18-49:   6.91M (Thurs.); 6.75M (2024 Avg.)

P25-54:   7.68M (Thurs.); 7.31M (2024 Avg.)

P55+:   6.29M (Thurs.); 5.28M (2024 Avg.)

Big Data + Panel Weekly Viewership – 2024 TNF on Prime Season (P2+ AMA)

9/12/24 – BUF@MIA:     15.79M

9/19/24 – NE@NYJ:         14.81M

9/26/24 – DAL@NYG:     17.61M

10/3/24 – TB@ATL:         13.21M

10/10/24 – SF@SEA:       13.90M

10/17/24 – DEN@NO:    10.64M

10/24/24 – MIN@LAR:   13.76M

10/31/24 – HOU@NYJ:  12.82M

11/7/24 – CIN@BAL:       14.58M

11/14/24 – WAS@PHL:  15.51M

ESPN’s Monday Night Football Approaching 100 Million Fans As Second Half of 2024-25 Season Gets Underway

ESPN’s Monday Night Football has reached nearly 100 million fans in under two months, headlining a strong first half for the NFL on ESPN game presentation and studio shows. Monday Night Countdown has increased its viewership from the 2023-24 season and Sunday NFL Countdown joins the Monday pregame show in achieving double-digit increases among younger audiences under 17 years old. NFL Live has delivered year-over-year viewership growth in its added hour on Mondays and continues to further cement the show as the daily destination for fans.

In the first nine weeks, 95.4 million fans have watched a portion of Monday Night Football. Game-to-game, MNF is averaging 14.4 million viewers (11 games), joining the 2023 campaign as Monday Night Football’s two highest audiences at this point in the season since Monday Night Football’s 2010 season.

Excluding MNF’s viewership in Weeks 3, 4 and 7, where ESPN and ABC or ESPN+ each had exclusive games, Monday Night Football’s viewership jumps up to nearly 17 million viewers (16.9 million through six games).

Individually, Monday Night Football has delivered multiple superlatives, including:

• 20+ Million Viewers: In both Week 1 (Jets-49ers) and Week 9 (Buccaneers-Chiefs), Monday Night Football earned north of 20 million viewers, the fifth and sixth time, respectively, achieving that feat since September 2023.
• Strong ESPN Audiences: In Week 5 (Saints-Chiefs) and Week 2 (Falcons-Eagles), ESPN delivered the most-watched (15.9 million viewers) and fourth-most-watched (15 million) MNF games which were not simulcast on ABC since 2019.

All season-to-date viewership is inclusive of data through Week 9 (November 4), the halfway point for Monday Night Football. The television franchise’s Week 10 matchup featuring the Miami Dolphins and Los Angeles Rams on November 11 (8:15 p.m. ET, ESPN and ESPN Deportes) generated 12.2 million viewers and will be part of ESPN’s season-to-date totals moving forward moving forward.

ManningCast Continues to Add Significant Audience in Fourth Year
Monday Night Football with Peyton and Eli is averaging one million viewers an episode (982,000 viewers) through its first seven shows of the season. In Week 5 (Saints-Chiefs), the show delivered an audience of 1.4 million viewers and in Week 7 (Ravens-Buccaneers), the alternate telecast achieved its 30th individual episode of averaging at least one million viewers.

ESPN on NFL Studio Shows Achieve Multiple Levels of Success
Monday Night Countdown (6-8 p.m. ET) is averaging 1.2 million viewers a show leading into Monday Night Football each week, up 3% from last season. The show hit a highwater mark of 1.7 million viewers in Week 9, among the show’s best in the last 70+ episodes. The pregame show’s success is being driven by double-digit increases in women viewers (+14%) and P2-17 (+13%).

Sunday NFL Countdown (10 a.m.-1 p.m.) finished the first half of the season with its most-watched episode of the season, generating 1.4 million viewers on November 3, the show’s most-watched November show since 2019. Overall, the show is averaging 1.2 million viewers and has scored % growth the youngest demo (P2-17).

NFL Live expanded to two hours on Mondays this season and the first hour of the show (3-4 p.m.) is up 19% year-over-year compared to the programming that aired in that spot in the 2023 season. Across its entire show on Mondays (3-5 p.m.), NFL Live is up 6% year over year, averaging 432,000 viewers an episode.

NASCAR Viewership — Phoenix Championship Weekend

• NASCAR Cup Series: Sunday’s event on NBC earned a 1.60 household rating and an average of 2.90 million viewers, ranking as the #2 sport Sunday behind only the NFL
  • Through all 10 races, viewership for the 2024 NCS Playoffs (2.33 million) finished up +6% YOY (2.20 million)
  • Across race telecasts from DAYTONA 500-Phoenix II (linear television only), the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series averaged 2.892 million viewers per minute, up +1% over 2023 (2.851 million)
  • At peak, 3.5 million viewers were tuned in as Joey Logano earned his 3^rd career Cup Series Championship
• NASCAR Xfinity Series: With NCAAF competition airing opposite the race on other major broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, FOX), the event earned a 0.59 household rating on The CW, with an average of 1.11 million viewers tuned in
  • The 1.11 million average viewers ranks the NXS Championship as the #1 sports telecast of any kind on the CW in 2024 to-date
  • Ranks as the most-watched Xfinity Series Championship race in Phoenix (2020-present) and since 2019 (1.2 million viewers, Homestead, NBCSN)
  • NXS ranked as the #2 sport of the day Saturday behind select NCAAF games
  • At peak, 1.4 million viewers were tuned in
• NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series: the event earned a 0.24 rating on FS1, with an average of 480,000 viewers tuned in
  • Most-watched Craftsman Truck Series Championship race since 2020 (493,000 viewers, Phoenix, FS1)
  • Ranked as the #2 sports event of the week on FS1, behind only NCAAF’s Iowa St./Kansas game Saturday afternoon
  • At peak, 586,000 viewers were tuned in

NASCAR Cup Series Championship
Aired Sunday, November 10^th on NBC

U.S. Rating                                                                                                         

2024: 1.60 on NBC

Down -1% versus 2023 Phoenix Championship Weekend on NBC (1.62)

Avg. Viewers (000) (all ages P2+)

2024: 2,895 (2.9 million)

Down -1% versus 2023 Phoenix Championship Weekend on NBC (2.9 million) 

NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship
Aired Saturday, November 9^th on The CW

Note: No direct YOY comparison; last year this event aired on USA (951,000 avg. viewers)

U.S. Rating

2024: 0.59 on The CW

Avg. Viewers (all ages P2+)

2024: 1,113 (1.1 million)

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship
Aired Friday, November 8^th on FS1

 U.S. Rating

2024: 0.24 on FS1

Flat versus 2023 Phoenix Championship Weekend (0.24)

Avg. Viewers (all ages P2+)

2024: 480,000

Up +16% over 2023 Phoenix Championship Weekend (415,000)

Nielsen’s Big Data + Panel Measurement Posts 14.58M for Bengals-Ravens on Prime

Nielsen released its Big Data + Panel measurement for Thursday’s Bengals-Ravens TNF game on Prime Video, which updated the event’s average audience to 14.58 million viewers (AMA). Bengals-Ravens on Prime marks the most-watched TNF game in six weeks, when Cowboys-Giants registered 17.61M on 9/26/24.

Season to date, the 2024 TNF on Prime campaign is averaging 14.13 million viewers (P2+) in Nielsen’s Big Data + Panel measurement. Across key demographics, Thursday’s viewership and season averages are below.

P18-34:   2.90M (Thurs.); 3.01M (2024 Avg.)

P18-49:   6.72M (Thurs.); 6.73M (2024 Avg.)

P25-54:   7.39M (Thurs.); 7.27M (2024 Avg.)

P55+:   5.42M (Thurs.); 5.18M (2024 Avg.)

Big Data + Panel Weekly Viewership – 2024 TNF on Prime Season (P2+ AMA)

9/12/24 – BUF@MIA:     15.79M

9/19/24 – NE@NYJ:         14.81M

9/26/24 – DAL@NYG:     17.61M

10/3/24 – TB@ATL:         13.21M

10/10/24 – SF@SEA:       13.90M

10/17/24 – DEN@NO:    10.64M

10/24/24 – MIN@LAR:   13.76M

10/31/24 – HOU@NYJ:  12.82M

11/7/24 – CIN@BAL:       14.58M