The Canadiens/Bruins rivalry attracted another good audience for NBC Sports Network. In other news, ESPN had big increases for the NCAA Wrestling Championships, and TNT had double-digit declines for a Tuesday NBA doubleheader.
Canadiens/Bruins Still Hot Draw For NBCSN
- NBC Sports Network earned 773,000 viewers for the Canadiens/Bruins NHL rivalry game Wednesday night, the network’s sixth-largest regular season audience since acquiring rights in 2005. Six of the seven most-viewed games have taken place this season alone, including three Canadiens/Bruins games. Wednesday’s game also earned the second-best audience since 2000 for a regular season game on cable that involved a Canadian team. (NBC Sports Group)
Near-Record For NCAA Wrestling Championships
- Coverage of the NCAA Wrestling Championships earned a 0.53 U.S. rating and 860,000 viewers on ESPN Saturday night, up 47% in ratings and 55% in viewership from last year (0.36, 554K), and the network’s second-largest audience for the event on record (dates back to 1990). Only the 2004 telecast (878K) earned more viewers. (ESPN Media Zone)
More Declines For NBA on TNT
- TNT drew 1.6 million viewers for the Clippers/Mavericks NBA regular season game Tuesday night, down 26% from Suns/Lakers in the 2010-11 season (2.2M). The game was trounced by the USA/Mexico World Cup qualifier on ESPN and UniM?s, which aired in a similar timeslot (7.0M). Earlier in the night, Knicks/Celtics drew 1.5 million, down 21% from Bulls/Hawks in 2011 (1.8M). There were no games on the comparable night of last season. (Tue. numbers from The Futon Critic)
