Viewership slipped for the third game of the NHL’s Western Conference final. In other news, Sunday Night Baseball continues to grow over last year, and the WNBA’s season opener fell double-digits.
Ducks-Predators Game 3 Slips on NBCSN
- Tuesday’s Ducks-Predators NHL Western Conference final Game 3 earned 1.1 million viewers on NBCSN, down 5% from Blues-Sharks last year (1.2M) and down 41% from Ducks-Blackhawks in 2015 (1.8M). Two of the series’ three games have declined from last year. Game 3 scored a 10.7 rating in Nashville, the market’s second-highest for the NHL on the NBC networks.
Another Bump For Sunday Night Baseball
- Astros-Yankees had a 1.2 final rating and 1.9 million viewers on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball over the weekend, up 10% in ratings (from 1.05 to 1.16) and 16% in viewership (from 1.7M to 1.9M) compared to Cardinals-Dodgers last year, but down 23% and 17% respectively from Tigers-Cardinals in 2015 (1.5, 2.3M). The preceding Derek Jeter retirement ceremony had 1.3 million on Baseball Tonight. Ratings and viewership have risen for five of six SNB windows that can be compared to last year. On Monday, Astros-Marlins had 527,000 — down 49% from Cardinals-Mets in ’15 (1.0M). Coverage last year was rained out. In other action, Cardinals-Cubs scored a 0.4 (+33%) and 615,000 (+68%) on Fox Sports 1 Saturday.
WNBA Opener Down
- Saturday’s Seattle-Los Angeles WNBA season opener scored a 0.2 final rating and 346,000 viewers on ESPN, down a tick in ratings and 31% in viewership from Phoenix-Minnesota in a later window last year (0.3, 505K). Last year’s game was the most-watched regular season opener on cable since 2001. On Sunday, Dallas-Phoenix delivered 62,000 in the WNBA’s first Twitter live stream.
(Numbers via ShowBuzz Daily 5.16, 5.17, NBC Sports PR/Twitter 5.17, Awful Announcing 5.16)
