NO HOLDS BARRED

Here are the Nielsen Ratings for all six sessions of the NCAA Div. I Wrestling Championships. Note that neither prime time telecast on Friday or Saturday on ESPN made the top 100 cable shows among adults 18-49 for the whole day. I assume ESPN will soon release the numbers for the ESPN3 webcast.

These numbers are not terrible, but appear to be flat and stagnant. Friday's semis did about the same as a repeat of the Berto-Lopez boxing on Spike, a weaker network than ESPN. Friday's numbers on ESPN are also about the same as ESPN gets for a regular weekly telecast of Friday Night Fights, which is being cancelled in May.

UFC, which claims to support wrestling, once again ran a show in direct competition with the NCAA finals. Their UFC Fight Night on Fox Sports 1, also a weaker network than ESPN, started at 10 PM EDT, right as the last several matches were taking place, including Logan Stieber's fourth straight title win. Their show averaged 617,000 viewers, a little less than the NCAAs, but got a 0.3 adults 18-49 rating because it ran later than the NCAAs.

Here are the numbers from the Sports TV Ratings site (http://sportstvratings.com), with some info added from TV By the Numbers (http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com):

2015 NCAA Div. I Wrestling Championships TV Ratings

Thursday, March 19, 2015
Program Net Episode Start End Viewers (000) 18-49 Rtg

Session 1 -- COLLEGE WRESTLING L ESPNU 2015 NCAA WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS

12:00 PM 3:52 PM 60 0.0

Session 2 -- COLLEGE WRESTLING L ESPNU 2015 NCAA WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS

7:00 PM 10:57 PM 109 0.0

http://sportstvratings.com/harvard-north-carolina-ohio-state-vcu-wofford-arkansas-lead-cable-sports-nets-for-thursday-march-19-2015/1824/

Friday, March 20, 2015
Program Net Episode Start End Viewers (000) 18-49 Rtg

Session 3 -- COLLEGE WRESTLING L-03/20/2015 ESPNU 2015 NCAA WRESTLING

CHAMPIONSHIPS 11:00 AM 2:26 PM 123 0.1

Session 4 -- COLLEGE WRESTLING L-03/20/2015 ESPN NCAA WRSTLNG CHAMPIONSHIP

8:00 PM 11:07 PM 451 0.2

(Did not make top 100 cable shows among adults 18-49 for the whole day.)

http://sportstvratings.com/coastal-carolina-wisconsin-valpo-maryland-davidson-iowa-lead-cable-sports-tv-ratings-for-friday-march-20-2015/1836/

Saturday, March 21, 2015

Session 5 -- COLLEGE WRESTLING L ESNU Sat 11:00A-02:12P 184

Session 6 -- COLLEGE WRESTLING L ESPN Sat 08:00P-11:13P 694

(Did not make top 100 cable shows among adults 18-49 for the whole day.)

http://sportstvratings.com/butler-notre-dame-arkansas-north-carolina-nc-state-villanova-lead-cable-sports-nets-for-saturday-march-21-2015/1845/

Labels: 2015 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships, college, Eddie Goldman, ESPN, No Holds Barred, ratings, TV