The NBA scored its most-watched Thanksgiving Eve doubleheader in four years and topped the Wednesday, November 22 sports ratings charts.
ESPN’s annual Thanksgiving Eve NBA doubleheader averaged 2.01 million viewers last Wednesday, the highest on the night since 2019. Bucks-Celtics averaged a 1.1 rating and 2.03 million viewers, up 26% in ratings and 21% in viewership from Mavericks-Celtics on the night before Thanksgiving last year (0.9, 1.68M). Warriors-Suns followed with a 1.1 and 2.00 million, up 17% and 11% respectively from Clippers-Warriors a year ago (0.9, 1.79M).
Leading into the doubleheader, the Purdue-Marquette Maui Invitational final averaged a 0.8 and 1.59 million — up 40% in ratings and 44% in viewership from Creighton-Arizona a year ago (0.6, 1.10M) and the largest audience for the final since Duke-Gonzaga in 2018 (2.30M). The Tennessee-Kansas third-place game led-in with a 0.6 and 1.16 million, up 37% and 52% respectively from Texas Tech-Ohio State last year (0.43, 760K) and the moset-watched third-place game since 2011.
The full Maui Invitational averaged 677,000 viewers across the ESPN networks, up 30% from last year, the highest average since 2018 and second-highest since 2011.
In other college basketball action, ESPN drew a 0.35 and 614,000 for North Carolina-Northern Iowa in a Battle 4 Atlantis quarterfinal — down from Kansas-NC State in the same window last year (0.41, 729K). A Memphis-Michigan quarterfinal drew a 0.22 and 419,000 on ESPN2 later in the day — more than double BYU-USC last year (197K) — followed by Baylor-Oregon State at a 0.16 and 328,000 (-40%). Texas Tech-Villanova brought up the rear with a 0.12 and 222,000 (-13%).
Shifting to the NHL, Bruins-Panthers scored a 0.25 (+42%) and 517,000 (+39%) on TNT and Golden Knights-Stars followed with a 0.16 and 314,000 (+78%) — both up considerably from last year’s comparable doubleheader of Flyers-Capitals and Senators-Golden Knights (373K; 176K).
Wednesday, November 22 sports viewership
