The penultimate game of Celtics-Sixers delivered the top audience of the playoffs outside of Warriors games. Plus: NASCAR scored a fourth-straight increase in viewership since Chase Elliott‘s return; baseball’s return to NBC scored a double-digit gain; and more.
Celtics-Sixers scores top non-Warriors audience of playoffs
Thursday’s Celtics-Sixers second round NBA playoff Game 6 averaged a 3.3 rating and 6.20 million viewers on ESPN, up 57% in ratings and 66% in viewership from Heat-Sixers last year (2.1, 3.74M) and the most-watched game of the playoffs that did not involve the Warriors.
The Nuggets-Suns nightcap, which saw Denver open up a 30-point lead at halftime, averaged 4.53 million — the same as Suns-Mavericks a year ago.
As usual, the NBA swept the key adult demographics of 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54 Thursday night.
NASCAR scores fourth-straight gain since Elliott’s return
NASCAR Cup Series racing from Kansas averaged a 1.35 rating and 2.35 million viewers on FS1 last Sunday, down 6% in ratings but up 1% in viewership from last year (1.4, 2.34M) and the fourth-straight race to post a year-over-year increase. The streak coincides with Chase Elliott’s return from injury.
As previously noted, the race outdrew the competing F1 Miami Grand Prix on ABC (1.96M), though F1 came out ahead in adults 18-49 (0.61 to 0.33).
NBC’s lone MLB game up double-digits from last year
Last Sunday’s Orioles-Braves Major League Baseball game on NBC — just the second MLB game on the network since 2000 — averaged a 0.95 rating and 1.60 million viewers, up 26% in ratings and 24% in viewership from White Sox-Red Sox last year (0.75, 1.30M). Including additional streaming viewership not tracked by Nielsen, the audience of 1.69 million was up 26%.
The NBC game was one of three last weekend to cross the million viewer threshold. FOX averaged a 1.1 and 2.08 million for its first primetime regional window of the season and ESPN scored a 0.9 (flat) and 1.62 million (-9%) for Dodgers-Padres on Sunday Night Baseball.
Plus: NFL schedule, UEFA, PGA Tour, beach volleyball
- Thursday’s NFL schedule release specials averaged a combined 355,000 viewers across ESPN2 (178K) and NFL Network (177K), up 28% from last year on the same networks (277K).
- Tuesday’s first leg of the Real Madrid-Manchester City UEFA Champions League semifinal averaged 1.14 million viewers on CBS, up 15% from the same matchup last year and the largest UCL audience ever on English-language TV (excluding the UCL final).
- Final round coverage of the PGA Tour at Quail Hollow averaged a 1.25 rating and 2.07 million viewers on CBS last Sunday, marking the lowest rated final round of the tournament in at least 20 years and the least-watched in at least eight. Ratings fell 16% and viewership 18% from last year (1.5, 2.53M). Third round action last Saturday averaged a 0.8 (-20%) and 1.28 million (-16%).
- Last Sunday’s USC-UCLA NCAA women’s beach volleyball final averaged a 0.22 rating and 380,000 viewers on ESPN, more than tripling the viewership of last year’s FSU-USC final on ESPN2 (123K) and the largest audience for the event since it previously aired on ESPN in 2019.
For more sports ratings reporting, see the following posts:
— Low-profile Stanley Cup semis slightly off last year’s pace
— Lakers-Warriors scores another big audience in Game 5
— F1 Miami GP dips from debut, still nears viewer record
(Nielsen estimates from Programming Insider 5.12, ShowBuzz Daily 5.8, network PR)
