NBA conference final viewership continues to bounce back from last year in the “bubble.” Plus: the latest numbers for the UEFA Euros and football’s The Spring League.
NBA conference final viewership outpacing “bubble”
Thursday’s Suns-Clippers NBA Western Conference Finals Game 3 averaged 5.33 million viewers on ESPN, up 10% from Lakers-Nuggets in the “bubble” on TNT last September (4.83M) but down 26% from Warriors-Blazers on ESPN in 2019 (7.25M). The Clippers’ win delivered the largest audience of the conference finals thus far (four telecasts) and ranks fifth for the playoffs (sixth including the Play-in Tournament).
On Wednesday night, Game 1 of the Hawks-Bucks Eastern Conference Finals averaged 5.30 million on TNT, per John Ourand of Sports Business Journal — up 32% from Heat-Celtics in the “bubble” on ESPN (4.01M) and down 3% from Bucks-Raptors on TNT in ’19 (5.49M).
So far, three of the four conference final games — Hawks-Bucks Game 1 and Games 2 of 3 of Suns-Clippers — have outdrawn every game of last year’s conference finals in the “bubble.”
UEFA Euro viewership still trending up through group stage
The complete UEFA “Euro 2020” group stage averaged 869,000 viewers across ABC, ESPN and ESPN2, up 23% from 2016 (707K). This year trails only 2012 (1.00M) as the most-watched UEFA Euro group stage since ESPN/ABC began carrying the event in 2008. The top five matches this year outdrew every group stage match in ’16.
New York, Washington D.C. and Miami-Ft. Lauderdale rank as the top markets thus far, each averaging a 0.7 rating.
Spring League football averages over 400K on FOX
FOX and FS1 averaged 181,000 viewers for coverage of The Spring League football season, according to XFL News Hub, up sixfold from last fall’s average of 30,000 on FS1 alone. That includes an average of 409,000 for games on the FOX broadcast network, topped by 461,000 for a June 12 window. The final telecast of the season, the Linemen-Jousters Mega Bowl last Sunday, averaged 418,000.
As one would expect given the lack of promotion and media attention, The Spring League paled in comparison to last year’s much-hyped XFL — which averaged 1.87 million viewers before it had to suspend, and eventually cancel, its season. The 2019 Alliance of American Football averaged 603,000 viewers through seven of its eight weeks of operation.
[Nielsen estimates from ESPN PR/Twitter 6.25, John Ourand/Twitter 6.24, ESPN PR 6.25, XFL News Hub 6.25; XFL average from SBJ 3.11.20; AAF average from SBJ 3.27.19]
