The Nielsen cable coverage estimates have been released and the numbers show that sports coverage took a serious hit, losing viewers and subscribers by the millions. ESPNU, the NFL Network, and the MLB were especially hard hit.
According to the numbers, both the MLB Network and the NFL Network lost millions of viewers over the recent ratings period. The numbers show that NFLN was down 4.4 million from August of 2018 and MLBN was down 2 million.
MLB, for instance, lost nearly eight million subscribers. “They had 64,413,000 estimated subscribers at that point, so their 56,453,000 now,” Awful Announcing wrote.
Several other sports networks also lost big numbers during the period.
- beIN lost nine million
- NFLN lost 8 million
- Golf Channel lost over six million
- NBA-TV lost over six million
- FS1 lost two million
But the numbers also show that several of ESPN’s networks took some hits.
The chart shows that ESPNU lost nine million subscribers, while ESPN lost roughly three million since February of 2017.
hadn't seen cable coverage estimates (how many homes each network is in) from Nielsen since August. Here's the April 2019 v August 2018 for the cable sports nets I saw: pic.twitter.com/EAGGwLxK8o
— SportsTVRatings (@SportsTVRatings) April 1, 2019
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.
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