The Blazers and Nets combined to give TNT its most-watched NBA season finale in nine years. Also: MLB ratings continue to underwhelm; the Stanley Cup and UEFA Champions League continue to do well.
Blazers-Nets thriller TNT’s top season finale in nine years
Thursday’s Blazers-Nets NBA regular season game averaged 1.52 million viewers on TNT, marking the network’s most-watched season finale since 2011 (Spurs-Lakers: 2.62M). Viewership increased 15% from TNT’s final game of last season (Rockets-Thunder: 1.33M) and 37% from its final game two seasons ago (Rockets-Clippers: 1.11M), both of which took place in April.
Portland’s narrow win ranks 11th among NBA games since the season restarted July 30 (35 telecasts total). The Blazers have played in three of the top 11, more than any other team except for the Lakers (five) and Rockets (four).
In other action, Blazers-Mavericks on Tuesday averaged just 928,000 viewers on TNT, followed by Pelicans-Kings at 893,000. ESPN averaged 1.20 million for Nuggets-Clippers and 674,000 for Raptors-Sixers on Wednesday. Earlier Thursday, TNT drew 740,000 for Spurs-Jazz and just 525,000 for Mavericks-Suns, the latter ranking as the least-watched game of the season on ESPN, ABC or TNT. Keep in mind it started at 4 PM ET on a weekday.
Underwhelming numbers MLB on FOX, ESPN
Thursday’s Brewers-Cubs Major League Baseball game averaged 1.59 million viewers on FOX, topping only the previous week’s telecast (1.49M) as the network’s least-watched primetime MLB window since 2016.
FOX was originally supposed to air the Cardinals-White Sox MLB “Field of Dreams” game from Iowa on Thursday, but that was called off.
In other action, ESPN averaged just 164,000 for a rain-delayed Orioles-Phillies game earlier Thursday. The previous day’s Diamondbacks-Rockies game was even lower at 160,000. The latter game aired in place of ESPN’s originally-scheduled Cubs-Cardinals matchup.
Day games holding up well as Stanley Cup rolls on
Thursday’s Hurricanes-Bruins NHL Stanley Cup quarterfinal Game 2 averaged 720,000 viewers on NBCSN, up 15% from a similar window on day three of last year’s playoffs (Penguins-Islanders: 626K). Keep in mind last year’s game overlapped with competing playoff action on other networks. [Related: Stanley Cup off to best start since moving to NBC.]
The preceding Blackhawks-Golden Knights Game 2 averaged 669,000 despite a 5:30 PM ET start, ranking fourth among games on cable since the season restarted August 1. Blue Jackets-Lightning Game 2 started the day off with 425,000 at 3 PM ET, an 18% increase over last year’s primetime Game 2 between the same teams, which aired on CNBC.
Rounding out the action, Flames-Stars Game 2 averaged 371,000 — down 23% from Golden Knights-Sharks in the same window last year (480K).
UCL nears viewer highs on UniMás
Wednesday’s Paris Saint Germain-Atalanta UEFA Champions League quarterfinal averaged 954,000 viewers across UniMás and TUDN, marking the largest UCL audience ever on UniMas and the second-largest audience of the season on any network. On Thursday, RB Leipzig-Atletico Madrid averaged 830,000, ranking second all-time on UniMas and third for the season.
[Nielsen estimates from ShowBuzz Daily 8.14, Univision]
