A blowout in the NBA Playoffs delivered mediocre numbers Wednesday night. In other news, Fox Sports 1 scored one of its larger MLB audiences on Tuesday, and the NHRA sorely missed a NASCAR lead-in last Sunday.
Wizards-C’s Blowout Middling Draw
- Wednesday’s Wizards-Celtics NBA Playoffs Game 5 had 3.8 million viewers on TNT, down 6% from Heat-Raptors last year (4.0M) and down 2% from Wizards-Hawks in 2015 (3.8M). Ratings were not immediately available. The game, which was overshadowed in Washington D.C. by a Capitals Game 7, ranks as the least-watched second round Game 5 since Wizards-Pacers in 2014 (3.5M). In a rarity, the NBA landed outside of the top two in adults 18-49, its 1.4 placing fifth behind Empire (2.2), Survivor (1.7), Modern Family (1.6) and even generic procedural Criminal Minds (1.6). It was second in adults 18-34 behind Empire (1.7 to 1.3).
FS1 Hits High With Yankees-Reds
- Tuesday’s Yankees-Reds Major League Baseball game scored 769,000 viewers on Fox Sports 1, the network’s largest MLB audience since Yankees-Indians last July (901K). It was the network’s second game in as many weeks to top the 700K mark. The following night, Cardinals-Marlins earned 406,000 on ESPN’s Wednesday Night Baseball — down 39% from both Royals-Yankees last year (662K) and Mets-Cubs in 2015 (667K).
NHRA Sinks Without NASCAR Lead-in
- Taped NHRA eliminations from Atlanta earned 378,000 viewers on FS1 Sunday evening, down 72% from last year, when coverage aired directly after a live NASCAR race (1.4M). That telecast remains the most-watched NHRA event in fifteen years. Compared to 2015 on ESPN2, viewership fell 27% from 520,000.
UPDATE 7/11: Yankees-Reds was most-watched MLB game on FS1 since Yankees-Indians last July, not Yankees-Rangers in July 2015.
