- NBC drew a 7.7/21 final rating for last Sunday’s basketball game between Team USA and China. The 7.7 rating is the tenth highest for a basketball game this year, behind six NBA Finals games and three NCAA Tournament games.
- Through two telecasts, ESPN is averaging 3.9 million viewers for preseason NFL football. Last Monday’s Bengals/Packers game, the first of the Aaron Rodgers era, drew 4.1 million opposite NBC’s Summer Olympics coverage. Meanwhile, FOX finished with a 2.2/4 rating and 3.2 million viewers for its Eagles/Panthers preseason debut Thursday night, down 55% from a 4.9 for the comparable Cowboys/Colts game last year.
- In Pittsburgh, preseason football was a bigger deal than the Olympics. Thursday night’s game between the Steelers and Bills in Toronto drew a 24.6/36 rating in the market, compared to a 16.8/27 for the Olympics. Fans in Buffalo were less interested in watching their team play a home game in another country. The game drew a 16.5/26, versus an 18.5/31 for the Olympics.
