The 2001 World Series telecasts (New York Yankees vs. Arizona Diamondbacks) claimed the largest U.S. TV audiences in recent memory: 24.5 million viewers per telecast, on average. 
But the late Seventies and early Eighties remain the true glory days of World Series TV viewership.
The 1980 World Series telecasts — the last time the Philadelphia Phillies won a World Series — drew the largest per game TV audiences on record: almost 54.9 million average viewers.

Game seven of the closely contested American League Championship Series between the Boston Red Sox and the Tampa Bay Rays drew the largest ever TV audience of any MLB playoff game aired on cable, Nielsen reported Tuesday.  
The game, which aired on TBS Sunday night, drew almost 13.4 million average viewers, easily surpassing game four of last year’s Indians v. Yankees division series, which claimed second place overall with 9.2 million average viewers.
TV viewership of the ALCS games surged after the Red Sox overcame a seven-run deficit in game five to beat the …

Each week, Nielsen Sports’ analysts offer their take on the biggest sports media headlines.
Angels/Red Sox Match-Up Tops Division Series TV Ratings
The third game of the Los Angeles Angels v. Boston Red Sox drew the largest television audience of the division series: 6.2 million viewers.  The three other games in that contentious series also made the top ten — with average TV audiences of approximately 5.7 million (game four), 5.3 million (game two), and 4.4 million viewers (game one), respectively.
After the jump, view complete national ratings from the division series games, aired …

As previously reported, 31.6% of all television households nationwide tuned in for John McCain and Barack Obama’s first presidential debate.
A closer look at the minute-by-minute TV ratings, released Wednesday by Nielsen, reveals few peaks or drop-offs in household viewing during Friday’s debate.

 
 
 
 
 
 
According to Nielsen’s analysis, after an early ramp-up in the debate’s first five minutes, the percentage of households watching the debate held steady throughout the remainder of the telecast. 
The percentage of TV households watching the McCain-Obama debate peaked at 32.9% at 9:38pm EST Friday night. 
Debate viewing dropped off significantly after …

Each week, Nielsen Sports’ analysts offer their take on the biggest sports media headlines.
Ryder Cup Golf — Minus Tiger
Last Friday morning, 1.4 million ESPN viewers tuned in to Ryder Cup golf coverage from Louisville, Kentucky.  With the world’s best golfer, Tiger Woods, sidelined, golf fans were introduced to Team USA Captain Paul Azinger’s rag-tag group of Ryder Cup rookies.  On Saturday, Ryder Cup’s TV audience more than doubled — an average of 3.2 million viewers tuned in to watch the tournament action on NBC, and on Sunday, 3.9 million NBC viewers watched …

Sunday’s broadcast of the 2008 Emmy Awards drew just over 12.3 million U.S. viewers. By comparison, the 2000 Emmy Awards drew the largest U.S. television audience (21.8 million viewers) of any Emmys telecast in the past 20 years.
The 1979 Emmys, hosted by Henry Winkler and Cheryl Ladd, drew the largest TV audience on record (20.8 million households). The 1986 Emmy Awards, hosted by David Letterman, ranked second overall, with 20.2 million households — an estimated 35.8 million viewers ages two and older — tuning in.
Nielsen’s Emmy ratings date back …

On Thursday night, John McCain’s acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention bested Barack Obama’s record-breaking viewership numbers from last week by 500,000 viewers.
More than 38.9 million people tuned in to coverage of the final night of the GOP convention.  In comparison, Obama’s acceptance speech at the Democratic convention drew 38.4 million viewers.
For the third night in a row, more women (19.2 million) than men (17.9 million) watched the RNC coverage.  Still, McCain’s speech drew significantly more men than Obama’s acceptance speech (16.2 million).  In contrast, Obama drew more women (19.9 …

It’s official: the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games attracted the largest global TV audience ever. 
Between August 8 and August 24, 4.7 billion viewers — or 70% of the world’s population — tuned in to watch the Games, according to Nielsen.  In comparison, 3.9 billion watched the 2004 Athens Games, while 3.6 billion followed the 2000 Sydney Games on TV. 
Host nation China led the viewing with 94% of Chinese viewers tuning in to the Olympics TV coverage, Nielsen reported.  South Korea, though a much less populous nation, also recorded 94% audience reach.  Mexico followed closely with …

With Roger Federer gunning for his fifth U.S. Open title this year, the tournament promises to be better than ever.  But are the U.S. Open’s TV ratings also thriving?
Since 1992, CBS’s U.S. Open telecasts have drawn roughly 2 to 3 million U.S. viewers, on average, each year. 
Last year, CBS’s U.S. Open broadcasts drew an average of 1.96 million viewers per telecast — down from almost 2.2 million viewers in 2006, but up slightly from the smallest U.S. Open TV audience since 1977: 1.94 million in 2004.
The 1999 U.S. Open telecasts claimed the largest U.S. TV …

On Monday September 1, 2008 television news coverage of Hurricane Gustav replaced planned coverage of the Republican Convention on most broadcast and cable networks.  As a result, Nielsen will not be providing audience estimates for Monday night’s convention. 
 
If normal convention coverage returns on Tuesday, Nielsen will plan to provide combined network audience estimates similar to those from last week’s Democratic convention. 
View the full media alert.