Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent ratings news and is derived from press releases and reports around the industry. In this week\u2019s edition, the NBA\u2019s Eastern Conference Finals closed out as the most-watched edition since 2023, the NHL\u2019s Western Conference Final keeps shattering decades-old records on ESPN, FOX celebrates the closest finish in Indianapolis 500 history and the most-watched UFL regular-season game ever, FOX Saturday Baseball climbs 20 percent year over year, and NASCAR on Prime posts all-time highs with an emotional Coca-Cola 600.<\/p>\n
NBA: East Finals Cap a Two-Year High<\/p>\n
ESPN and ABC delivered strong viewership for the 2026 NBA Eastern Conference Finals presented by Dunkin\u2019, with the four-game series averaging an audience of 7.4 million viewers across the two networks, according to Nielsen Big Data + Panel. The series marked the most-watched Eastern Conference Finals since 2023 and represented a 37 percent increase compared to the 2025 Western Conference Finals on ESPN. Individual games posted notable gains as well: Game 2 on ESPN averaged 7.1 million viewers, the highest for an Eastern Conference Finals Game 2 since 2018, while Game 3 on ABC drew 8.1 million viewers, the most-watched Game 3 in the round since 2011. Game 4 on ESPN averaged 7.2 million viewers, the most-viewed Eastern Conference Finals Game 4 across any network since 2018. ABC serves as the exclusive home of the 2026 NBA Finals, beginning Wednesday, June 3.<\/p>\n
NHL: Avalanche-Golden Knights Rewrites the Record Book<\/p>\n
The Western Conference Final between the Colorado Avalanche and Vegas Golden Knights has delivered record-setting numbers across ESPN networks throughout the series. Game 1 on Wednesday averaged 2.1 million viewers, up 45 percent versus last year\u2019s Western Conference Final Game 1 and the most-viewed Game 1 in the round since 2018 (Vegas-Winnipeg). Game 2 on Friday became the most-viewed Western Conference Final Game 2 since 2002 (Colorado-Detroit on ESPN), and Game 3 on Sunday averaged 2.5 million viewers, up 45 percent, marking the most-viewed Game 3 in the round since 2002 (Detroit-Colorado on ESPN). Through three games, the Western Conference Final on ESPN networks is averaging 2.3 million viewers, up 48 percent year over year. The broader 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs on ESPN networks is averaging 1.6 million viewers, up 73 percent year over year, with ESPN posting its most-viewed First and Second Round of the Playoffs since the new rights deal. ESPN\u2019s postseason culminates with exclusive coverage of the Stanley Cup Final.<\/p>\n
UFL: Louisville-Dallas Sets a League Benchmark<\/p>\n
FOX UFL drew 1,593,000 viewers as Louisville defeated Dallas 37-23, making it the most-watched regular-season UFL game since the league\u2019s 2024 launch, according to Nielsen Media Research. The broadcast was up 18 percent from the comparable 2025 Week 9 game (1,348,000 viewers) and up 147 percent from last year\u2019s average for regular-season games on FOX (646,000 viewers). Viewership peaked at 3,166,000 from 4:42\u20134:45 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n
IndyCar: A Photo Finish for the Ages at Indy<\/p>\n
FOX scored with the closest finish in Indianapolis 500 history, as 6,635,000 viewers watched Felix Rosenqvist edge David Malukas by 0.0233 seconds with a last-lap pass to win the Indy 500 on Sunday, according to Nielsen Media Research. The race ranked as the second-most-watched Indianapolis 500 since 2012 (6,851,000) and peaked at 8,349,000 viewers from 4:00\u20134:15 p.m. ET. Through seven races, INDYCAR on FOX is averaging 2,383,000 viewers, up 10 percent from 2025 (2,173,000) \u2014 the best start to an INDYCAR season since the 2008 merge.<\/p>\n
MLB: Dodgers Power FOX Saturday Baseball Gains<\/p>\n
A total of 2,355,000 viewers tuned in to FOX Saturday Baseball for a two-game slate highlighted by the Dodgers\u2019 11-3 victory over the Brewers in most of the country, according to Nielsen Media Research. The audience was up 20 percent versus last year\u2019s FOX Saturday Baseball viewership average (1,960,000) and peaked at 2,604,000 viewers from 9:45\u201310:00 p.m. ET. Among local home markets, Milwaukee led with a 9.9 rating, followed by St. Louis (8.4), Cincinnati (5.6), and Los Angeles (3.9).<\/p>\n
NASCAR: Coca-Cola 600 Drives Prime to All-Time Highs<\/p>\n
NASCAR on Prime delivered all-time highs this past Sunday during an emotional Coca-Cola 600 from Charlotte Motor Speedway, a broadcast that opened with a tribute to Kyle Busch featuring Dale Earnhardt Jr., drivers including Bubba Wallace at the desk, and a moment of silence before Daniel Suarez secured his third Cup Series victory in the 373-lap race. Per Nielsen\u2019s Big Data + Panel measurement, the race averaged 3.06 million viewers \u2014 the most-watched NASCAR on Prime race to date and up 12 percent versus last season\u2019s Coca-Cola 600 on Prime \u2014 peaking from 9:15\u20139:29 p.m. ET with 3.37 million viewers. Prime posted increases across all key demos under 55 versus this season\u2019s linear Cup Series races, including P18-34 (303K, +14%), P18-49 (822K, +26%), and P25-54 (1.04M, +25%), and delivered a median age of 57.2, nearly six years younger than linear Cup Series audiences this season and the youngest since Prime\u2019s 2025 coverage concluded at Pocono. The pre-race NASCAR Live from Charlotte averaged a best-ever 1.41 million viewers, while the 71-minute post-race NASCAR Live from Victory Lane averaged an all-time-high 1.12 million.<\/p>\n
On the Nielsen household and per-minute side, the Coca-Cola 600 earned a 1.07 household rating with 2.6 million viewers per minute, up 1 percent over 2025 Charlotte I, peaking at 3.1 million from 7:15\u20137:30 p.m. and finishing up 31 percent over the 2025 cable race average of 2.0 million across 24 races on FS1\/TNT\/USA. Elsewhere, Saturday\u2019s weather-impacted NASCAR O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts Series race on The CW earned a 0.54 household rating and 945,000 viewers per minute \u2014 averaging 1.3 million before a delay of more than four hours led to the race being called after 91 laps \u2014 marking the 15th consecutive week the series ranked as the #1 telecast of the week on the network. The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, moved from Friday prime time, averaged a 0.24 household rating with 428,000 viewers per minute in its Sunday window on FS1, up 4 percent year over year, ranking as the #1 sports event of the week on the network ahead of MLB and all IndyCar events.<\/p>\n
A Look Back at The Week of May 18-24<\/p>\n
The NBA playoffs dominated the sports television landscape for the week of May 18-24, sweeping the top seven positions in the Top 25 rankings. NBC\u2019s broadcast of Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals between the Thunder and Spurs claimed the No. 1 spot as the week\u2019s most-watched live sports event, drawing 8.36 million viewers on Sunday, May 24. The Knicks-Cavaliers Eastern Conference matchup and additional Spurs-Thunder games filled out the remaining top slots across ABC, ESPN and NBC, with Game 3 of Knicks vs. Cavaliers on ABC landing at No. 2 and Game 2 of Spurs vs. Thunder on NBC at No. 3.<\/p>\n
Motorsports made a strong showing in the middle of the pack, with FOX\u2019s coverage of the Indianapolis 500 driving to No. 8 with 6.64 million viewers and Prime Video\u2019s NASCAR Coca-Cola 600 placing No. 10. The PGA Tour\u2019s CJ Cup Byron Nelson carded three appearances \u2014 final and third rounds on CBS at Nos. 9 and 12, plus early final-round coverage on Golf Channel at No. 25 \u2014 while the NHL playoffs iced six positions, led by the Canadiens-Sabres Game 7 on ESPN at No. 11 and a run of Avalanche-Golden Knights and Canadiens-Hurricanes games across ESPN, TNT and TruTV. Rounding out the rankings, FOX\u2019s regional MLB coverage took No. 14, Univision\u2019s soccer slate earned three spots (Nos. 19, 21 and 22), and the UFL, college softball and WNBA each registered single entries, with FOX\u2019s Renegades-Kings game at No. 20, ESPN\u2019s Arizona State-Texas softball at No. 23 and NBC\u2019s Wings-Liberty WNBA matchup at No. 24.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent ratings news and is derived from press releases and reports around…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":702937,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,85],"class_list":["post-702936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=702936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702936\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/702937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=702936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=702936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=702936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}