The XFL saw a dip in viewership in week 2, but that was expected after the novelty of the new league wore off. FOX, Disney, and the league still have plenty to celebrate with three of the weekend’s four XFL broadcasts averaging more than 2.1 million viewers.
On Saturday, ABC saw an average audience of 2,127,000 tune in for DC’s win over New York. Later that day 2,324,000 tuned into FOX to watch the Seattle Dragons beat the Tampa Bay Vipers.
Sunday’s games were also strong performers. The highest rated game of the weekend was the Sunday contest on ABC that saw the Dallas Renegades beat the Los Angeles Wildcats. An average audience of 2,397,000 watched that game.
FS1 had the cable broadcast this week and pulled in 1,359,000 for the St. Louis Battlehawks and Houston Renegades. That audience is significantly smaller than what the other games saw, but by cable standards, the XFL more than held its own this weekend. Bobby Burack of The Big Lead points out that not only did the FS1 XFL broadcast top ESPN’s most recent NBA Friday night double header, it also dwarfed the TV audience for the AAF’s week 2 broadcast on TNT last year.
