ABC’s five-week run of Wednesday night NBA games ended on a low note, but still topped the rest of the sports lineup for Wednesday, January 31.
Wednesday’s Suns-Nets NBA regular season game, which marked Suns F Kevin Durant’s hardly-anticipated return to Brooklyn, averaged a 0.9 rating and 1.41 million viewers on ABC — up 41% in ratings and 36% in viewership from Brooklyn-Boston on ESPN the same night last year (0.6, 1.04M). (Compared to Nets-Sixers on the equivalent date of last season, January 25, ratings were flat and viewership actually fell 3% from 1.46 million.)
The Suns’ win posted the smallest NBA audience on ABC so far this season (11 telecasts). The five Wednesday night games, which coexisted with local RSN telecasts and overlapped with competing games on ESPN, account for five of the network’s six least-watched games this season.
Overall, ABC’s strike-induced Wednesday night slate averaged 1.65 million viewers. Each game aired as part of an overlapping, split-network doubleheader, with this week’s Bucks-Trail Blazers nightcap averaging 800,000 viewers on ESPN — down 6% from Hawks-Suns last year (855K). (Compared to Grizzlies-Warriors on the equivalent date of last season, viewership fell a whopping 52% from 1.67 million.)
Together, ABC and ESPN averaged 1.24 million for the five doubleheaders, up 9% from the ESPN-only doubleheaders on the same nights a year ago (1.13M).
Notably, while Suns-Nets was the most-watched sportscast of the day, the NBA did not take top honors in adults 18-49. ESPN’s Florida-Kentucky men’s college basketball game placed first in 18-49 (0.29 to 0.28) and placed second in viewership with 1.08 million.
Over on ESPN2, Notre Dame-Virginia scored 249,000. In the same window last year, Tennessee-Florida had 493,000 (with no competing game on ESPN). The Vanderbilt-Auburn nightcap drew 159,000, down 57% from last year’s Oklahoma State-Oklahoma rivalry game (370K).
In other college basketball action, a Northwestern-Purdue game averaged 422,000 on BTN — up 62% from Penn State-Purdue a year ago (262K) — followed by Penn State-Rutgers at 195,000 (+14%). Providence-UConn drew 349,000 on FS1 (+46%), preceded by St. John’s-Xavier at 138,000 (-23%) and followed by Boise State-New Mexico at 208,000.
Beyond basketball, TNT averaged just 159,000 for a Kings-Predators NHL regular season game — down 50% from Hurricanes-Sabres last year (320K).
Wednesday, January 31 sports ratings
Updated chart:
