The UEFA Champions League quarterfinals delivered a strong weekday audience last week. In other news, the Stanley Cup Playoffs delivered mixed results Friday night, and a channel change lifted the NCAA gymnastics championships.
Nearly 750K Watch Juventus-Barcelona UEFA Quarter
- Last Tuesday’s first leg of the Juventus-Barcelona UEFA Champions League quarterfinal had a combined 748,000 viewers on Fox Sports 1 and Fox Deportes, up 11% from Barcelona-Atletico Madrid on the same two networks last year (673K). In particular, FS1 had 391,000 (+1%) and Fox Deportes 357,000 (+25%). The following day, Bayern Munich-Real Madrid had 383,000 on FS1 alone (Fox Deportes had Atletico Madrid-Leiceter city) — up 46% from the network’s year-ago Paris St. Germain-Manchester City telecast (263K).
NHL Playoffs Up Big on USA Friday, Down on NBCSN
- Friday’s Rangers-Canadiens Stanley Cup Playoffs Game 2 had 610,000 viewers on USA Network, up 94% from Red Wings-Lightning last year (315K) and up 111% from Senators-Canadiens in 2015 (289K), both of which aired on CNBC. On NBCSN, Sharks-Oilers had 534,000 and Blues-Wild 474,000 — down 4% and 25% respectively from last year’s comparable doubleheader of Predators-Ducks (558K) and Blackhawks-Blues (633K).
NCAA Gymnastics Semis Up in Move From ESPNU
- The night session of Friday’s NCAA women’s gymnastics semifinals averaged 185,000 viewers across ESPN and ESPNU, up 123% from last year on ESPNU alone (83K). ESPN’s two hours of coverage had 244,000. The day session had 117,000 on ESPN2, up 225% from ESPNU last year (36K).
