An NBA doubleheader featuring the Heat and Lakers scored solid numbers on ESPN Wednesday. In other news, TNT suffered steep declines for NBA coverage on Thursday, and ratings sank in primetime for the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.
- ESPN Has Solid Outing For NBA Wednesday Night: ESPN drew 2.4 million viewers for Wednesday’s Lakers/Suns NBA regular season game, up 19% from Clippers/Jazz last year (2.0M), and up 93% from Spurs/Jazz in an earlier window in 2011 (1.3M). The game earned ESPN’s sixth-largest NBA audience of the season. Earlier in the night, Heat/Nets drew 2.0 million — up 6% from Thunder/Mavs last year (1.9M). (Wed. numbers from The Futon Critic)
- Steep Declines For NBA on TNT: Thursday’s Grizzlies/Thunder NBA regular season game earned 1.6 million viewers on TNT, down 31% from Bulls/Knicks last year (2.3M), and down 42% from Heat/Knicks in 2011 (2.8M). The Mavericks/Warriors nightcap scored just 1.2 million viewers — down 37% from Nuggets/Clippers last year (1.9M), and down 35% from Celtics/Trail Blazers in 2011 (1.9M). (Thu. numbers from The Futon Critic)
- Fewer Viewers For U.S. Figure Skating Championships: Primetime coverage of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships earned a 2.2 final rating and 3.3 million viewers on NBC last Saturday night, down 8% in ratings and 11% in viewership from last year (2.4, 3.7M), and down 12% and 15%, respectively, from 2011 (2.5, 3.9M). The telecast earned the worst numbers for Saturday night coverage of the event since NBC took over TV rights in 2008. (Weekend numbers from Sports Business Daily)
