Recent sports TV ratings notes, including Wednesday’s Temple/Ohio game on ESPN (compared to last year’s NBA Opening Week coverage), MLS regular season and playoff ratings on ESPN2, and a strong start for the NHL’s Sabres.
- Temple/Ohio Down Double-Digits From Last Year’s NBA Game: Wednesday’s Temple/Ohio college football game earned a 1.0 U.S. rating and 1.356 million viewers on ESPN, down 17% in ratings and 20% in viewership from last year’s comparable NBA Opening Week game (CHI/OKC: 1.2, 1.697M), which aired opposite the 2010 World Series. Temple/Ohio moved to ESPN to replace the canceled Heat/Knicks game. (ESPN)
- MLS Ratings Update: ESPN2 began coverage of the 2011 Major League Soccer postseason Sunday, scoring 253,000 viewers for the Galaxy/Red Bulls match. Later in the day, Dynamo/Union earned 256,000. The network finished regular season coverage with Union/Red Bulls on October 20, earning just 181,000 viewers opposite this year’s World Series. Excluding the All-Star Game, the largest MLS audience of the season on ESPN/ESPN2 was 622,000 for Red Bulls/Fire on June 26. (The Voice of TV)
- Sabres Ratings Up in October: Through the first month of the 2011-12 NHL season, Sabres games on MSG Network averaged an 8.3 rating in the Buffalo TV market, up 15% from last year (7.2), and up 24% from 2009 (6.7). Excluding afternoon games, Sabres games have averaged a 9.3 rating. The October 14 Hurricanes/Sabres game earned the season’s largest rating so far, with an 11.5. (bizjournals.com)
