Ratings: UFC, NHL and more

Last Saturday’s first-ever UFC main event on ABC was the most-watched on any network in nearly two years, averaging 1.22 million viewers. The last main event with a larger audience was ESPN’s first in February 2019 (1.50M). Ratings jumped 95% (to 0.7) and viewership 85% from the previous main event on ESPN2 last month (0.37, 658K).

The previous UFC main event on broadcast television — the final edition of UFC on FOX in December 2018 — averaged a 1.1 rating and 1.83 million, but that aired in primetime and did not face the NFL.

In other UFC action, a rare Wednesday afternoon main event averaged just 244,000 on ESPN — easily the smallest such audience since ESPN acquired rights. Beyond airing on a weekday afternoon, the telecast faced direct competition from the presidential inauguration. Morning prelims chipped in 199,000.

NBC averaged a 0.95 rating and 1.71 million viewers for last Sunday’s Capitals-Penguins NHL regular season game, its first of the shortened season — the most-watched indoor regular season game since an Olympic-adjacent Penguins-Blues game three years ago (1.88M). The game averaged 1.73 million including additional streaming viewership.

Ratings increased 23% and viewership 43% from the same January weekend last year (Bruins-Penguins: 0.8, 1.20M). The game averaged a 12.05 rating in Pittsburgh and a 3.59 in Washington D.C., the markets’ highest rated indoor games on NBC since 2013 and 2011 respectively.

The same Capitals-Penguins matchup drew 222,000 on NBCSN Tuesday night, down 24% from Penguins-Flyers last year.

In other NBCSN action, Sabres-Flyers drew 339,000 on Martin Luther King Day, the top NHL game on the holiday in four years (2017 Capitals-Penguins: 414K). Bruins-Islanders chipped in 302,000, Blue Jackets-Red Wings 182,000 and Coyotes-Golden Knights just 134,000. On Wednesday, Oilers-Maple Leafs drew 226,000 (-16%) and Wild-Ducks 222,000.

Part two of the HBO documentary “Tiger” averaged 874,000 viewers last Sunday, including encore presentations and digital viewing — up 37% from part one the previous week (639K). The first-run airing on HBO alone drew 437,000 (+29%). … The women’s free skate at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships averaged a 1.4 rating (-13%) and 2.15 million viewers (-10%) January 15, the event’s lowest primetime rating since at least 1997 and smallest such audience since at least 2009. The men’s free skate two days later had a 0.6 and 802,000 — down a third and 40% respectively from last year, when it did not face the NFL Playoffs (0.9, 1.34M). … Leading into an NFL playoff game, last Sunday’s Indiana-Michigan State college basketball game drew a 1.0 and 1.63 million on CBS, down a third in ratings and 24% in viewership from the same pre-NFL window last year (Michigan State-Purdue: 1.5, 2.16M). … Wednesday’s double-overtime Nets-Cavaliers NBA game scored 159,000 viewers on YES in New York, the network’s most-watched Nets game since 2014. Nets viewership is up 89% so far this season to 85,000 per game.