The Warriors delivered ESPN’s largest NBA preseason audience in seven years. In other news, the NHL’s Hockeyville USA game plunged opposite the baseball playoffs and VP debate, and the end of the WNBA semifinals put up mixed numbers on ESPN and ESPN2.
Warriors Deliver Top Preseason Audience on ESPN Since 2009
- Tuesday’s Clippers/Warriors NBA preseason game earned a 0.8 final rating and 1.2 million viewers on ESPN, the network’s most-watched preseason game since Nuggets/Lakers in 2009, a Western Conference Finals rematch (1.4M). It was the first preseason game on any network to top the one million mark since Bulls/Thunder in 2013 (1.1M). Earlier in the night, Knicks/Rockets had a 0.5 and 770,000. Over on NBA TV, Saturday’s Warriors/Raptors game had 232,000 viewers on NBA TV — up 80% from the network’s first preseason game last year, Nuggets/Clippers on a Friday night (129K).
Hockeyville USA Down Big Against MLB, Debate
- The Sabres/Hurricanes NHL Hockeyville USA preseason game had 111,000 viewers on NBCSN Tuesday night, down 54% from Penguins/Lightning last year (239K). Unlike last year, the game faced competition both from the MLB Postseason and a vice presidential debate. Airing immediately afterward, an NHL season preview had 51,000 — down 44% from last year’s lead-out program, the movie Slapshot (91K).
Mixed Numbers For WNBA Semis
- Game 3 of the Lynx/Mercury WNBA semifinals had a 0.2 final rating and 243,000 viewers on ESPN Sunday afternoon, flat in ratings and up 4% in viewership from Game 2 of the same series last year, which aired in an earlier timeslot (0.2, 234K). In both games, Minnesota completed a sweep of Phoenix. Earlier in the day, Game 3 of Sparks/Sky had a 0.1 and 178,000 — down a tick and 44%, respectively, from Liberty/Fever Game 2 last year (0.2, 316K). Game 4 of the series had 198,000 on ESPN2 Tuesday night, down 34% from last year’s winner-take-all Fever/Liberty Game 3 (302K).
(Numbers from ESPN, Programming Insider 10/5, ShowBuzz Daily 10/4, Sports TV Ratings 10/4, 10/5)
