A controversial finish helped the LPGA Tour’s first major of the season to a big increase in viewership. In other action, the NHL on NBC failed to crack the 1.0 mark yet again, and Warriors games mixed results for ESPN in recent days.
Controversial LPGA Major Posts Increase
- Final round coverage of the ANA Inspiration, the first LPGA Tour major of the season, had 551,000 viewers on Golf Channel Sunday afternoon — up 38% from last year (398K), up 52% from 2015 (364K) and the event’s second-largest final round audience ever on the network. Coverage in 2014 had 670,000. Ratings increased 30% year-over-year (from 0.27 to 0.35). From 7:30-7:45 PM ET, when then-leader Lexi Thompson was assessed a four-stroke penalty, viewership increased 26% over the previous quarter-hour. Third round action on Saturday had a 0.2 (flat) and 302,000 (-11%).
Yet Another Sub-1.0 Rating For NHL on NBC
- Bruins-Blackhawks earned a 0.8 final rating and 1.2 million viewers on the NHL on NBC last Sunday, down a tick in ratings and 12% in viewership from the same matchup on the same weekend last year (0.9, 1.4M). Entering the final week of the season, all 11* indoor games on NBC have failed to crack a 1.0 rating. In other action, Blackhawks-Penguins had a 0.4 and 661,000 on last week’s edition of NBCSN Wednesday Night Rivalry — up a tick in ratings and 24% in viewership from Bruins-Rangers last year (0.3, 532K) and flat and up 16% respectively form Blackhawks-Flyers in ’15 (0.4, 569K). Rounding out the recent action, Stars-Bruins had 322,000 last Thursday and Lightning-Bruins 219,000 last night.
Mixed Results For Warriors on ESPN
- Rockets-Warriors drew 2.2 million viewers on ESPN’s NBA Friday last week, down 18% from Celtics-Warriors last year (2.7M) but up 65% from Blazers-Lakers in 2015 (1.3M). Golden State’s win aired directly opposite Mississippi State’s upset of UConn in the Women’s Final Four, which had 2.8 million on ESPN2. Earlier in the night, Spurs-Thunder had a 0.9 final rating (-17%) and 1.6 million viewers (-14%). Shifting to this week, T’Wolves-Warriors had a 1.2 and 1.8 million on ESPN Tuesday night — up 9% in ratings and 14% in viewership from the same matchup on TNT last year (1.1, 1.6M) — and Bucks-Thunder a 0.9 (+50%) and 1.4 million (+56%).
CORRECTION 4/13: Post previously overstated the number of indoor games NBC had aired to that point. It aired 11, not 14.
(Numbers via ShowBuzz Daily 4.4, Programming Insider 4.4, 3.30)
