Ratings roundup for a handful of pre-Thanksgiving sporting events, including college and pro basketball, Formula 1 and more.
Gonzaga-UCLA trails only Duke-Kentucky as top game of early season
Last Tuesday’s #1 Gonzaga-#2 UCLA men’s college basketball game averaged 1.58 million viewers on ESPN, ranking second for the young season behind Duke-Kentucky in the Champions Classic (1.78M) and ahead of Kansas-Michigan State in that same event (1.52M). Viewership doubled the comparable Thanksgiving week window in 2019, Kansas-BYU in the Maui Invitational (791K).
Figures for Friday’s Gonzaga-Duke game were not immediately available.
Lakers drawing viewers despite their play
TNT averaged a 1.0 rating and 1.74 million viewers for last Tuesday’s Lakers-Knicks NBA regular season game, marking the eighth-largest audience of the season thus far. The sub-.500 Lakers have played in four of the nine most-watched games through Tuesday, matching the Warriors as the most of any team.
The Nuggets-Blazers nightcap pulled 1.35 million. TNT did not carry a Thanksgiving week game in 2019. Figures for Wednesday’s ESPN doubleheader were not immediately available.
F1 still riding high as season draws to close
With two races left on the schedule, the Formula 1 season is averaging 934,000 viewers across the ESPN family of networks — up 54% from last year’s delayed, shortened season and up 36% from the comparable number of races in 2019 (684K). Last weekend’s Qatar Grand Prix, a new addition to the schedule and a last-minute replacement for a canceled Australia race, drew a 0.50 rating and 845,000 viewers on ESPN2.
The previous weekend’s Brazil Grand Prix drew a 0.44 and 801,000, also on ESPN2 — up 19% and 29% respectively from the last time the race was held in 2019 (0.37, 620K).
Plus: WCBB, NWSL, LPGA
Last Monday’s South Carolina-UConn women’s college basketball game averaged 489,000 viewers on ESPN, ranking second for the early season despite a Noon ET timeslot. … Last Saturday’s Washington-Chicago NWSL title game averaged a 0.35 rating and 525,000 viewers on CBS, up threefold from the previous league championship in 2019, which aired on ESPN opposite NFL games (166K), but down slightly from the NWSL Challenge Cup final in May (534K). … Final round coverage of the season-ending LPGA Tour Championship averaged a 0.27 and 384,000 on NBC last Sunday, down 43% and 44% respectively from last year, when coverage led into a PGA Tour event featuring Tiger Woods.
[Nielsen estimates from Programming Insider 11.24, ShowBuzz Daily 11.23, 11.24, network PR]
