After hitting a three-year high on Opening Night, the NBA kept that pace on night two of the season. Plus: big turnout for Tiger and his son and a big finish for the LPGA Tour; a slow start for college football’s bowl season; mixed results for college basketball’s CBS Sports Classic.
NBA maintains Opening Night pace on Wednesday
Wednesday’s Bucks-Celtics NBA regular season game averaged a Nielsen-estimated 2.00 million viewers on TNT, up 18% from Celtics/Sixers on the second night of last season (1.70M) and up 28% from 2018 (Pelicans-Rockets: 1.56M). Those games aired on ESPN.
Later in the night, Mavericks-Suns averaged 1.22 million on ESPN — down 10% from last year (Nuggets-Blazers: 1.35M) but up 1% from the same matchup in 2018 (Mavericks-Suns: 1.21M).
Through two nights, the NBA season is averaging 2.28 million viewers on TNT and ESPN — up 3% from last year (2.21M), up 5% from 2018 (2.16M), and the highest in three years (2017: 3.49M).
Tiger and son boost Father/Son Challenge
NBC coverage of the PGA Tour Father/Son Challenge, featuring Tiger Woods and his son Charlie, averaged a 0.9 rating and 1.51 million viewers last Saturday and a 1.0 and 1.50 million on Sunday — the two highest rated and most-watched days of the event since it returned to the schedule in 2012. Saturday’s telecast jumped 100% in ratings and 128% in viewership from last year (0.46, 665K) and Sunday’s window 158% and 189% respectively (from 0.38, 523K).
Leading into the Sunday window, the final round of the LPGA Tour season finale averaged a 0.47 and 686,000 — up 57% in ratings and 74% in viewership from last year (0.30, 395K) and the best figure for the event since 2017 (0.50, 699K).
Boca leads early bowl games as Idaho and New Orleans hit lows
Tuesday’s BYU-UCF Boca Raton Bowl averaged 1.55 million viewers on ESPN, the most-watched game of the bowl season thus far (five telecasts). Viewership fell 22% from last year, when the game aired on a Saturday afternoon on ABC (SMU-FAU: 1.99M), but increased 15% from the last time it aired on ESPN in 2018 (UAB-NIU: 1.35M).
Earlier in the day, the Tulane-Nevada Famous Idaho Potato Bowl averaged 914,000 (-33%), the smallest audience for that game in 13 years (2007 Fresno State-Georgia Tech: 745K). Wednesday’s New Orleans Bowl also hit a multi-year low, posting its smallest audience in at least 15 years for Georgia Southern-Louisiana Tech (923K, -4%).
As for the two new bowl games thus far, Wednesday’s primetime Memphis-FAU Montgomery Bowl averaged 1.27 million viewers and Monday’s afternoon Appalachian State-North Texas Myrtle Beach Bowl averaged 637,000.
Mixed results for CBS Sports Classic
North Carolina-Kentucky averaged a 0.9 rating and 1.30 million viewers and UCLA-Ohio State a 0.55 and 841,000 in college basketball’s CBS Sports Classic last weekend. The Tar Heels’ win increased a tick in ratings and 9% in viewership from last year (UCLA-UNC: 0.8, 1.20M) while the Buckeyes’ win plunged 61% and 63% respectively (from Ohio State-Kentucky: 1.4, 2.27M). Keep in mind the games faced college football conference championship games for the first time.
Both games trailed Iowa-Gonzaga earlier in the day, which averaged a 0.8 and 1.35 million.
[Nielsen estimates from ShowBuzz Daily 12.22 a, b, 12.23, 12.24]
