OSC Weekly Ratings Wrapup
by David Carlson
September 18, 2019 - Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)
WNBA Playoffs down from last season, regular season slightly up
Per reporting from sportsmediawatch.com, the WNBA regular season ended the year with an average of 246k viewers across ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC, which is up 7% from ratings on ESPN2 alone last year (231k). ESPN and ABC aired a total of 5 games, the most since 2008, so the overall ratings increase is not as impressive as it first sounds, and the numbers likely declined on ESPN2, curious considering the additional exposure the ESPN and ABC telecasts provided.
The opening round of the playoffs was down on Wednesday from similar nights last year, and the Sunday games did not rate at all in the Top 150 cable programs for the day.
High School Football lead-in doesn't help CFL broadcast on ESPN2, and neither does a full day of rated programming around PLL playoffs
ESPN2 broadcast a high school football game that rated a .06 demo rating and 185k viewers, but that did not help the CFL broadcast that followed. The CFL game failed to rate in the Top 150 cable programs on Friday. Whether ESPN2 needs to have a more consistent schedule for CFL games, even during the fall season when they mostly ignore it because of NFL and NCAA football, or just need to only show games on ESPN+ in the fall until the playoffs, right now their strategy of peppering CFL broadcasts at random intervals on ESPN2 isn't working out very well.
Over on NBC Sports Network Saturday, almost all of the programming throughout the day made the Top 150 cable shows for the day: Premier League soccer all morning, and then NASCAR programming from Noon through the end of the day. But at 5 pm they switched over to the PLL playoffs, which did not get into the Top 150 shows despite requiring just a high .03 demo rating to make the cut.
Last Week's OSC Leagues Ratings Summary:
| 9/11 | 7p | ESPNews | NWSL | Not in Top 150 |
| 9/11 | 8p | ESPN2 | WNBA Playoffs | .06/247k |
| 9/11 | 10p | ESPN2 | WNBA Playoffs | .07/221k |
| 9/13 | 10p | ESPN2 | CFL | Not in Top 150 |
| 9/14 | 5p | NBCSN | PLL Playoffs | Not in Top 150 |
| 9/15 | 1p | ESPN | WNBA Playoffs | Not in Top 150 |
| 9/15 | 3p | ESPN2 | WNBA Playoffs | Not in Top 150 |
| 9/15 | 3:30p | ESPN | MLS | .05/151k |
| 9/15 | 7:30p | FS1 | MLS | Not in Top 150 |
FS1 covering the AAA Championship Game
Perhaps the most interesting telecast this week is the AAA Championship game, which FS1 will cover for the first time on September 17th at 8 pm. The PLL championship also takes place this weekend on NBC, and the WNBA playoffs continue all week on ESPN2.
Coming up this week with OSC league programming on TV:
| 9/17 | 7:30pm | ESPNews | NWSL |
| 9/17 | 8pm | FS1 | AAA Championship |
| 9/19 | 8pm | ESPN2 | WNBA Playoffs |
| 9/19 | 10pm | ESPN2 | WNBA Playoffs |
| 9/21 | 2:30pm | NBC | PLL Championship |
| 9/22 | 3pm | ESPN2 | WNBA Playoffs |
| 9/22 | 4pm | ESPN | MLS |
| 9/22 | 5pm | ESPN2 | WNBA Playoffs |
Follow OSC TV and ratings discussion at https://twitter.com/OsctvR.
NOTE: Don't know what the "demo" is? Unsure of why the different ratings numbers don't match up? Read our explanation of TV ratings in our first article here.
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- Aces Nearly Steal Home Court from Mystics, But Fall 97-95 in Game One of WNBA Semifinals - Las Vegas Aces
- OSC Weekly Ratings Wrapup - OSC Original by David Carlson
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer(s), and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
