Overnight (metered market) ratings by timeslot.
12:00 PM – 3:00 PM Sunday.
2.1/6: College basketball on CBS, SEC Championship Game
1.0/3: NHL on NBC, regional coverage
0.7/2: Honda Ski Tour on ABC
- NHL action pulled in its usual low rating for Hurricanes/Rangers and Red Wings/Bruins.
- The SEC Championship Game drew a higher rating than last year, though the 2.1 is still less than spectacular.
3:00 PM – 7:00 PM Sunday.
5.5/11: NASCAR on FOX, UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400
4.7/10: College basketball on CBS, Selection Show
3.1/7: College basketball on CBS, Big Ten Championship Game
2.1/5: PGA Tour on NBC, PODS Championship Final Round
1.5/3: NBA on ABC, Nuggets at Kings
- ABC reaps what it sows; a matchup between two mediocre, small-market teams at the bottom of the Western Conference playoff race draws the lowest NBA overnight rating since at least 2003 (though it is highly likely that it is the lowest overnight rating for an NBA game on broadcast television ever). Mavs/Nets and Mavs/Magic in 2004, the current record holders for lowest rated NBA game ever, both drew overnight ratings higher than the 1.5 for Denver/Sacramento.
- Meanwhile, college basketball continued to pull in decent ratings. The Big Ten Championshp Game was the only one CBS aired that drew higher than a 3.0 rating; the rest of the games drew ratings in the low 2 range. The Selection Show drew its usual high rating; the 4.7 overnight was even from last year.
Saturday ratings.
- CBS didn’t light the world on fire with its quadruple-header of college basketball action; four conference tournament games aired drew ratings of 1.3, 2.2, 2.0 and 2.0. While those ratings were low, they were up from last year’s comparable quadruple-header, where games drew ratings of 1.4, 1.8, 2.2 and 2.0.
- While Nextel Cup racing continues to pull in good numbers for FOX, the Busch Series is less than appoinment programming. Saturday’s race on ABC pulled in a 2.3 overnight, a dismal number for a NASCAR branded event. Still, the race drew a higher rating than all but one basketball game over the weekend (college or pro), and was the fourth highest rated sports program of the weekend.
- Snowboarding took in the lowest rating of the weekend; NBC’s broadcast of the Chevrolet Snowboard Grand Prix drew a 0.6 overnight.
