Ratings roundup — including an increase for college basketball’s Champions Classic and the latest numbers from the NBA, F1 and NHL.
Champions Classic, Armed Forces Classic, both up
Tuesday’s college basketball Champions Classic doubleheader averaged 1.8 million viewers on ESPN, up 10% from last year. Kentucky-Michigan State led the way with a 1.2 rating and 2.03 million viewers, up 29% in ratings and a third in viewership from last year, and the most-watched Champions Classic game in three years.
The Duke-Kansas nightcap averaged 1.56 million viewers, down double-digits from Kentucky-Duke a year ago (~1.8M).
Both Champions Classic games easily outdrew TNT’s competing NBA doubleheader (Grizzlies-Pelicans: 1.04M; Nets-Kings: 888K), but neither could match the College Football Playoff rankings show that aired between games (2.20M).
In other college basketball action, last Friday’s Gonzaga-Michigan State Armed Forces Classic scored a 0.8 and 1.48 million — the largest audience for the event since 2016.
Warriors’ drawing power unaffected by slow start
Wednesday’s Warriors-Suns NBA regular season game averaged 1.62 million viewers on ESPN, up double-digits from Mavericks-Suns last year (1.36M) and the ninth-largest audience of the season. Golden State has played in four of the top nine games. Ratings were not immediately available.
Earlier in the night, Celtics-Hawks drew a 0.8 and 1.49 million — down 15% in ratings and about even in viewership compared to last year (Lakers-Bucks: 0.95, ~1.5M).
Shifting to the previously mentioned Tuesday night doubleheader on TNT, Grizzlies-Pelicans (0.6, 1.04M) sank more-than-half from last year’s higher-profile Warriors-Nets game (1.4, ~2.3M). The Nets-Kings nightcap (888K) also sank double-digits to the smallest audience of the season on TNT.
Rounding out the recent slate, ESPN drew 913,000 for Timberwolves-Grizzlies last Friday, down more-than-half from Bulls-Warriors a year ago (~2.0M).
F1 Brazilian GP hits high in move to ABC
Last Sunday’s Formula 1 Brazilian Grand Prix averaged a 0.7 rating and 1.40 million viewers on ABC, marking the largest live audience ever for the event and the third-largest audience of the season. The inaugural Miami GP (2.6M) and the Canadian GP (1.7M) — which also aired on ABC — hold the top two spots.
George Russell’s win, which peaked with 1.6 million viewers from 2:30-2:45 PM ET, surged 69% from last year on ESPN2.
Entering Sunday’s season finale, F1 races have averaged 1.2 million viewers across the ESPN family of networks, up 29% from last year (949K).
Quiet week for NHL
Wednesday’s Blackhawks-Blues NHL regular season game averaged a 0.17 rating and 264,000 viewers on TNT, followed by Kings-Oilers at 242,000 viewers — both down from the network’s lone game last year, Blackhawks-Kraken (~373K). In other action, ESPN chipped in 236,000 for Lightning-Capitals last Sunday night. The game trailed its lead-in from the United States-Germany women’s soccer friendly (337K).
(Nielsen estimates from Programming Insider 11.14, 11.16, 11.17, network PR)
