A decent matchup helped Thursday Night Football past the ten million viewer mark for just the third time since September. Plus: “College Gameday” hit high marks, Alex Ovechkin’s 800th goal was no match for its lead-ins; and more.
49ers-Seahawks helps TNF past the ten million mark
The latest edition of NFL Thursday Night Football (49ers-Seahawks) averaged a 5.0 rating and 10.31 million viewers on Amazon Prime (11.6 million per Amazon’s internal metrics), marking just the third time since September that TNF cracked the ten million mark. Overall, the 49ers’ win ranks fifth out of the 13 total editions of TNF.
TNF is now averaging 9.67 million viewers for the season (11.4 million per Amazon’s internal metrics).
ESPN’s “Gameday” hits high; SEC on CBS edges “Big Noon”
ESPN’s “College Gameday” averaged 2.06 million viewers during the 2022 season, the second-highest average ever for the show behind 2011 (2.07M) and the highest since it expanded to three hours in 2013. “Gameday” outdrew FOX “Big Noon Kickoff” by 70% this season.
“Gameday” averaged nearly as many viewers as actual college football games on ESPN/ABC (2.15M, +7%).
As for the games, the SEC on CBS edged FOX “Big Noon Saturday” as the most-watched game window this season with an average of 6.26 million viewers — up 11% from last year (5.66M). That compares to 6.23 million for “Big Noon” (+6%). ABC’s Saturday Night Football placed a distant third with an average of 4.34 million (-16%).
Ovechkin’s 800th goal trails 30 For 30, ATH lead-ins
Tuesday’s Capitals-Blackhawks NHL regular season game, which saw Capitals LW Alex Ovechkin score his 800th goal, averaged 378,000 viewers on ESPN — ranking 11th out of the 36 NHL games on Nielsen rated TV this season. The game averaged fewer viewers than its lead-ins, the premiere of the ESPN “30 For 30” documentary “Jeanette Lee Vs.” (416K) and the “Around the Horn” 20th anniversary special (429K).
ESPN also averaged 240,000 for an Avalanche-Blues Sunday matinee.
Over on TNT, Red Wings-Wild and Canucks-Flames averaged 259,000 and 195,000 viewers respectively Wednesday night. Both windows increased over the previous week’s doubleheader of Sabres-Blue Jackets (219K) and Rangers-Golden Knights (181K).
Plus: “The Match,” college hoops, NCAA volleyball
Featuring Tiger Woods, the latest edition of golf’s “The Match” averaged 1.38 million viewers across TNT (742K), TBS (374K), HLN (147K) and TruTV (116K) last Saturday night — up from last year’s December edition, which pit Brooks Koepka against Bryson DeChambeau (~1.2M). … Last Saturday’s primetime Indiana-Arizona men’s college basketball game averaged a 0.7 rating and 1.43 million viewers on FOX, marking the fifth-largest audience of the month-old season. … Thursday’s NCAA women’s volleyball tournament semifinals averaged 712,000 viewers on ESPN, trailing only last year as the highest on record.
(Nielsen estimates from Programming Insider 12.15, ShowBuzz Daily 12.13, 12.14; network PR)
