Viewership increased double-digits for Tuesday’s top-five clash between Michigan and Louisville. Also: the NBA on TNT finally crossed the million viewer mark; NBC’s Black Friday NHL game increased; miscellaneous numbers for a number of sporting events.
Michigan-Louisville up double-digits in ACC/B1G Challenge
Michigan-Louisville averaged 1.66 million viewers in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge Tuesday night, up 11% from last year (Michigan State-Louisville: 1.49M), up 40% from 2017 (Louisville-Purdue: 1.18M), and the top college basketball game since the Champions Classic.
Later in the night, Duke-Michigan State averaged 1.59 million — virtually even with last year (Indiana-Duke: 1.59M). There was no comparable late game in 2017.
NBA on TNT tops million mark for first time in weeks
TNT averaged 1.05 million viewers for Tuesday’s Trail Blazers-Clippers NBA regular season game, the network’s largest audience since Opening Week. The game snapped a streak of nine straight games on TNT with fewer than one million viewers.
The final game of that streak aired earlier Tuesday night, as Mavericks-Pelicans averaged 765,000. There were no comparable windows last year.
Black Friday NHL up on NBC
Last Friday’s Rangers-Bruins NHL Thanksgiving Showdown averaged a 0.8 rating and 1.20 million viewers on NBC, up a tick in ratings and 5% in viewership from last year (Rangers-Flyers: 0.7, 1.14M) but flat compared to 2017 (Penguins-Bruins: 0.8. 1.20M).
In other action, NBCSN averaged just 170,000 viewers for Flyers-Blue Jackets last Wednesday night (-42%). The network fared better the previous night, averaging a 0.23 rating and 379,000 viewers (+101%) for Stars-Blackhawks.
Miscellaneous: Sixers, BTN, Bayou Classic, Liga MX, Grey Cup
Sixers games are averaging a 3.7 rating on NBC Sports Philadelphia (+19%), on pace to rank as the network’s highest on record (dating back to 2008). … Last Friday’s Iowa-Nebraska college football game drew 1.43 million viewers on BTN, its second-largest audience of the season. … The Grambling-Southern Bayou Classic pulled 206,000 viewers on NBCSN, down 13% from last year (236K) but up 6% from 2017 (194K). … The Club América-Tigres Liga MX quarterfinal averaged 1.8 million viewers on Univision and TUDN, the best for a quarterfinal in three years. … The November 24 Grey Cup had a 0.1 rating and 109,000 on ESPN2.
[Nielsen estimates from ShowBuzz Daily 12.4 a, b; NBC Sports Philadelphia; Big Ten Network; Univision; ESPN]
