Sports Media Beat

Sports Media Beat


Melanie Newman makes history; PGA ratings solid

August 05, 2020

Melanie Newman made history on Aug. 4, becoming the first female to broadcast play-by-play for the Baltimore Orioles in their game against the Miami Marlins. Also, PGA ratings remain solid for CBS. All that and more is discussed in the latest SMB. Below are the show notes for the podcast:

PGA Tour on CBSWGC-St. Jude's Classic- Sun., Aug. 2- 2.1/3.2M- Up 31% in ratings and 39% in viewership- Tour on CBS has averaged 2.46M- 3rd round lead in on Golf Channel (.45/635,000 viewers)- 4th round lead in on GC on Sunday (.6/952,000)

Melanie Newman-Newman makes history-first woman in Orioles broadcast history to broadcast a regular season game-on the call for the O's-Marlins game, calling play-by-play-among women, currently broadcasting MLB games, she joins the Rockie's Jenny Cavnar, the Yankees Suzyn Waldman and ESPN's Jessica Mendoza-she is also the fourth woman to call play-by-play for an MLB game, joining Cavnar, Waldman and Gayle Gardner

Yankees-Red Sox- Ratings down- FOX, Sat., Aug. 1 (1.25/2.07M)-smallest Yanks-Red Sox audience since Sep. 2016, but it turned out to be 4th most watched MLB game this season, with the Yanks playing in three of those games- ESPN, Sun., Aug. 2 (1.2/1.91M)

Red Sox-Mets- Thu., July 30 on FOX- 1.2/1.88M

NASCAR race from New Hampshire- Sunday, Aug. 2/NBCSN- 1.4 rating/2.21 million- lowest rated edition of the race since 1998 and least watched since at least 2000- Brad Keselowski was the winner

NBA on ABC- Blazers-Celtics (1.1/1.66M) Sunday, Aug. 2

NHL on NBC- Sunday, Aug. 2- Flyers-Bruins (0.8/1.42M)- NHL on NBCSN- Blues-Avalanche, Sun., Aug. 2 (.4/684,000)

Formula 1 British Grand Prix on ESPN- Sun., Aug. 2 (.47/736,000)- Largest audience for race since it last aired on broadcast TV since 2012

WTT on CBS- Sun., Aug. 2 (.39/556,000 viewers)- Largest audience in league history

ABC, Saturday, Aug. 1- aired 1990 fight between Buster Douglas and Mike Tyson- .47/616,000

WNBA on ESPN- Sun., Aug. 2- NY Liberty vs. Phoenix Mercury- .17/248,000

Monday Night Football- No formal announcement- several reports indicate the crew will be Steve Levy on PBP, and former NFL players Louis Riddick and Brian Griese on commentary- succeeding Joe Tessitore and Booger McFarland- bigger piece of the pie for NFL football

ESPN stat cast