Top Sports Shows: Kentucky Derby Leads Field
May 9th, 2008 by Bill Gorman
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Kentucky Derby, NASCAR Richmond Lead Slate of NBA Playoff Games
The 134th running of the Kentucky Derby lead the field of sports shows for the week of April 28- May 4, 2008 with a viewership of 14.2 million.
The always strong NASCAR Sprint Cup Series from Richmond was #3 with a viewership of 7.3 million.
They both lead a field of eight NBA Playoff games topped by the Sunday LA Lakers / Utah Jazz match-up. Luckily for the NBA ratings, the Lakers are cruising and don’t seem to have much competition, because their big ratings draw in the east, the Boston Celtics, struggled to beat the Atlanta Hawks in 7 games.
Top Sports Shows for the Week of April 28 - May 4, 2008:
|
RANK |
PROGRAMS |
Network |
Persons Live+SD (000) |
HH Rating Live+SD |
|
1 |
KENTUCKY DERBY 5/03 |
NBC |
14,203 |
8.8 |
|
2 |
KENTUCKY DERBY PRE 5/03 |
NBC |
8,023 |
5.3 |
|
3 |
NASCAR SPRINT CUP RICHMOND 5/03 |
FOX |
7,273 |
4.5 |
|
4 |
NBA UTAH / LA LAKERS 05/04 |
ABC |
5,890 |
4.1 |
|
5 |
FOX NASCAR SPRINT PRE 05/03 |
FOX |
5,206 |
3.3 |
|
6 |
WWE RAW |
USA |
4,851 |
2.9 |
|
7 |
NBA ATLANTA / BOSTON-SUN 1 |
ABC |
4,795 |
3.5 |
|
8 |
NBA (SUNS/SPURS) |
TNT |
4,669 |
3.1 |
|
9 |
WWE RAW |
USA |
4,443 |
2.7 |
|
10 |
NBA (LAKERS/NUGGETS) |
TNT |
3,872 |
2.8 |
|
11 |
NBA (SPURS/HORNETS) |
TNT |
3,854 |
2.6 |
|
12 |
FRIDAY NIGHT SMACKDOWN |
CW |
3,762 |
2.2 |
|
13 |
NBA (HAWKS/CELTICS) |
TNT |
3,682 |
2.6 |
|
14 |
NBA (CELTICS/HAWKS) |
TNT |
3,477 |
2.5 |
|
15 |
MLB SUNDAY (CUBS/CARDINALS) |
ESPN |
3,391 |
2.2 |
|
16 |
FOX NASCAR SPRINT-PRE 5/03 |
FOX |
3,238 |
2.0 |
|
17 |
SATURDAY BASEBALL (VARIOUS) |
FOX |
2,924 |
2.0 |
|
18 |
NBA (ROCKETS/JAZZ) |
ESPN |
2,865 |
2.1 |
|
19 |
NHL RANGERS / PITTSBURGH-SUN |
NBC |
2,333 |
1.3 |
|
20 |
WACHOVIA CHAMPIONSHIP-SU 5/04 |
CBS |
2,244 |
1.6 |
The faux wrestling shows of WWE Raw were as usual in the top 10 at #6 and #9 with 4.9 and 4.4 million viewers respectively. Their broadcast relative, Friday Night Smackdown came in at #12 with 3.8 million viewers.
Major League Baseball put two games in the top 20 at #15 and #17 with 3.4 and 2.9 million viewers respectively.
The top NHL playoff game of the week, NY Rangers at Pittsburgh, came in at #19 with 2.3 million viewers.
PGA golf placed the Sunday action at the Wachovia Championship at #20 with 2.2 million viewers.
Our Sports Ratings combine the top Broadcast sports shows and any cable sports shows that appeared in the top 40 cable programs. It is possible that a cable sports show that had enough viewers to make this list is left off because it didn’t have enough viewers to make the list of the top 40 cable programs for the week which is all we have access to.
Nielsen Ratings Data: ©2008 Nielsen Media Research, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
