ESPN is touting its NBA viewership, while TNT’s move to Tuesday nights is paying off. Plus: another strong outing for F1 and numbers for women’s college hoops, the Breeders Cup and NHL.
ESPN says NBA viewership up (with caveat); TNT benefits from Tuesday move
ESPN said Thursday that it is averaging 1.44 million viewers for NBA games this season, up 20% from last year’s full season average (1.20M), with the caveat that three weeks and a full season are not an apples-to-apples comparison. A direct comparison to last year’s first three weeks (December into January) or the first three weeks two years ago (October into November) was not immediately available.
ESPN averaged 1.61 million viewers for Heat-Lakers on Wednesday night, down 19% from Warriors-Lakers on the comparable night in 2019 (1.99M). The hapless Pistons and Rockets led off the doubleheader with 977,000, down 41% from Clippers-Rockets in ’19 (1.66M).
On Tuesday night, TNT drew 1.29 million for Bucks-Sixers and 1.17 million for Trail Blazers-Clippers — up 42% and 53% respectively from the comparable Thursday night doubleheader in 2019 (Mavericks-Knicks: 909K; Nets-Nuggets: 766K). TNT has aired three Tuesday night doubleheaders since Opening Week and five of the six games have increased double-digits from the comparable Thursday windows in ’19.
Rounding out the recent NBA action, ESPN averaged a 0.9 rating and 1.60 million for Pelicans-Warriors and a 0.7 and 1.24 million for Knicks-Bucks last Friday night.
Mexican Grand Prix latest success for F1
Last Sunday’s Formula 1 Mexican Grand Prix averaged a 0.6 rating and 968,000 viewers on ABC, the largest audience for the race since it returned to the schedule in 2015. Compared to the previous edition of the race in 2019, ratings were flat and viewership increased 14% (from 850K).
The F1 season is now averaging 947,000 viewers across the ESPN networks, up 44% from the same number of races in 2019 (658K). Compared to last year’s full, truncated season, viewership is up 56% from 608,000.
Plus: WCBB, Breeders Cup, NHL
Tuesday’s South Carolina-NC State women’s college basketball season opener averaged 506,000 viewers on ESPN, the most-watched women’s season opener on the ESPN networks sine 2013. … Horse racing’s Breeders Cup averaged just 1.16 million viewers on NBC last Saturday night, up 45% from last year’s all-time low (802K) but down a third from the previous primetime edition in 2019 (1.74M). … The latest edition of the NHL on TNT (Wild-Coyotes) averaged 234,000 Wednesday night, down 3% from Wild-Blues on NBCSN in an earlier timeslot two years ago (240K).
