Ratings Roundup: 2025 NHL Stadium Series Secures Most Viewed Regular Season Game Since 2021; Over 1 Million Tuned into Grand Prix of St. Petersburg

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, ESPN networks and social media channels see viewership highs entering 2025; NFL Combine hits over 5 million viewers over four days of coverage; and more.

ESPN’s Excellent 2025 Continues: Company’s February Viewership was Highest in Seven Years

ESPN’s February 2025 viewership was the network’s highest for the month of February in seven years, dating back to 2018. Year-over-year, February’s viewership was up 21% from 2024, with February 2025 averaging 575,000 viewers every minute of the month. ESPN’s multi-year audience high was boosted by the 4 Nations Face-Off Championship Game, which scored ESPN’s highest hockey audience ever, and further amplifies the company’s industry-leading sports portfolio.

ESPN’s February 2025 multi-year high viewership, measured in average minute audience, immediately follows the company’s January 2025 viewership, its most-watched month across the entire year since 2015 (120 months). The back-to-back signature results have built the foundation for ESPN’s premier start to 2025.

More February 2025 Highlights:

• Best in a Decade: Combining all of ESPN’s programming with sports programming on ABC, more minutes were watched by fans in February 2025 than any other February dating back to 2015 across the two networks.
• Sports Viewership Share Increase: While increasing its own viewership, ESPN also secured more of the overall share of sports viewership across all networks, compared to February 2024. This February resulted in ESPN accounting for 30% share (up from 27% last year) during the month. Outside of Fox, who carried Super Bowl LIX, no other competitor network had a double-digit share.

2025 NFL Scouting Combine Viewership

• 5.1 million fans watched the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine over four days of coverage on NFL Network
  • Most-watched Combine on NFL Network alone since 2017
  • Day 3 (Saturday) coverage featuring the QB, WR & RB averaged 484K viewers
    • Most watched Day 3 on record (up +21% vs last year)
  • Day 4 (Sunday) coverage featuring the OL was up +22% vs. last year – highest since 2020

February 28 NBA Doubleheader Was the Most-Watched on ESPN This Season

• Peak audience 2.64 million viewers
• Up 28% vs. last season’s ESPN average
• 5th-most watched game on ESPN this season

Clippers vs Lakers hits 1.89 million viewers on ESPN

• Peak audience 2.10 million viewers
• Up 33% vs. last season’s ESPN average
• 3rd-most watched game on ESPN this season

2025 NHL Stadium Series Delivers Most-Viewed Regular Season Game Since ESPN Re-Acquired the NHL Rights in 2021

1.6M viewers tuned in with a peak of 1.8M

• +16% versus last year’s two Stadium Series games on ABC
• Most-viewed Stadium Series ever on cable
• Most-viewed Stadium Series since 2019

1.4 Million Viewers Watched Sunday’s Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Across FOX & FOX Streaming Services

• UP +45% vs. last year’s St. Petersburg opener
• Ranks as the most-watched non-Indianapolis 500 NTT Indycar Series race on any network since 2011

NASCAR Cup Series EchoPark Automotive GP

• NASCAR Cup Series: Sunday’s race at COTA on FOX ranked as the #1 sports event of the week on TV by 68% over the next closest event, earning a 2.15 household rating and 4.1 million average viewers
  • Viewership was off -5% versus race #3 last year (Las Vegas I) but up +25% over 2024 COTA, which aired on FOX later in March opposite March Madness games
  • The race becomes the most-watched NCS race on a road or street course since Chicago Street Race in July 2023 (4.6 million)
  • At peak, 4.9 million viewers were tuned in
• NASCAR Xfinity Series: Saturday’s race earned a 0.61 rating on The CW with an average of 1.1 million viewers tuned in
  • The race ranked as the #1 telecast of the week on The CW for the 3^rd time in 3 races of the 2025 NXS season
  • At peak, 1.3 million viewers were tuned in
• Weekend Motorsports, ranked by audience size:
  • NCS (COTA): 4.132 million viewers on FOX
  • IndyCar (St. Petersburg): 1.417 viewers on FOX
  • NXS (COTA): 1.120 million viewers on The CW

ESPN Digital & Social Start 2025 at No. 1

ESPN Digital and Social topped the U.S. Sports Category in January with 209.3 million unique users, reaching 75% of the U.S. adult population across digital, YouTube and social media platforms, according to recently released Comscore data.

• The ESPN App remained No. 1 in January, reaching 29.0 million unique users, more than the next seven non-ESPN apps combined and more than five times its nearest non-ESPN competitor in the Mobile Sports App category.
• With 8.0 million unique users, more than two times its nearest competitor, the ESPN Fantasy App was No. 1 among all fantasy sports apps.
• ESPN Social marked its 43rd month in a row at No. 1 among sports properties, with 978 million engagements in January.