The defending champion Blackhawks and the top seeded Bulls both earned record ratings on Comccast SportsNet Chicago Thursday night.
The Bulls’ Game 3 win over the Pacers Thursday night drew a 13.7 rating on Comcast SportsNet Chicago, the highest rating ever for a Bulls telecast on the network. The previous network record was a 7.6 for Pacers/Bulls Game 2 earlier in the week.
One major reason for the network record was that Thursday’s game was only telecast on CSN, as the NBA TV simulcast of the game was blacked out in the Chicago market. Playoff games on ESPN and TNT ‘co-exist’ with the local telecasts in the first round.
Overall, Bulls/Pacers Game 3 ranks as the highest rated game for any team ever on CSN Chicago.
Later Thursday night, the Blackhawks’ season-saving Game 5 win over the Canucks earned a 10.6 rating on CSN Chicago, the highest rating ever for a Blackhawks game on the network. The previous high was a 10.1 for Blackhawks/Canucks Game 3 last year.
So far, ratings for first round Bulls games are up 204% on CSN Chicago, and ratings for first round Blackhawks games are up 15%.
(Numbers from Comcast, via Fang’s Bites)
