Q2 2017 ESPORTS TV RATINGS: THE CW IS #1 AGAIN
TNL Take: Now that we've kicked off the 2nd month of the 2nd quarter of the year, we've had a couple of new additions to eSports TV programming since we last took a look at the end of Q1.
Here's what stands out so far in Q2:
- The CW continues it's domination with the #1 eSports program in 2016 and again with the #1 show so far in 2017 with their H1Z1: King Of The Crown event. If you didn't catch it, watch it for 3 minutes and you'll understand why it's so easy to understand.
Another reason the numbers are higher: the time. Last year's Mortal Kombat event was on Monday Prime Time and same for H1Z1; on a Thursday night at 9:00 PM.
One additional point on H1Z1, if you compare the 18-49 ratings vs. the NHL Playoffs which basically ran head-to-head (yes, on fewer total households compared with the NBC Sports Network), it's still just about even - 0.2 vs. a 0.3 for the NHL.
- Turner's ELEAGUE has now had 5 episodes of Street Fighter and seems to settling in around the ~300K Total Viewers and 100K+ in the 18-49 demo. As nothing has been announced yet on Counter-Strike Season 3 or Turner's potential next league, it will be interesting to see if they continue to give it the same time Friday late night time slot.
- The only other addition was EA's FIFA Regionals and waiting to verify the numbers but with 17 programs through 4 months compared with just over 20 for all of 2016, we're off to a good start.
Also want to pour the bottle out for the good man behind SportsTVRatings.com who will no longer be providing Nielsen data I hunger for on a weekly basis on his site. He patiently taught me so me so much about how to - correctly - understand TV ratings and separate the sensational headlines from the truth. You will be missed sir and this one's for you.