A potential first round NBA playoff preview topped the sports viewership charts for Wednesday, March 27.
Wednesday’s Suns-Nuggets NBA regular season game averaged 1.44 million viewers on ESPN, down 2% from Timberwolves-Suns on the same night last year (1.46M) but still the most-watched sporting event of the night. Clippers-Sixers led in with 1.23 million, down 15% from Mavericks-Sixers a year ago (1.44M).
No other sporting event managed to hit the 500,000 viewer mark Wednesday. TNT averaged 472,000 for a Bruins-Lightning NHL regular season game, up slightly from Islanders-Capitals a year ago (466K).
Returning to the hardwood, ESPN2 averaged 409,000 for VCU-Utah and 385,000 for UNLV-Seton Hall in the NIT quarterfinals — down 17 and 12 percent respectively from last year (Cincinnati-Utah Valley: 495K; UAB-Vanderbilt: 438K). Including Tuesday’s quarterfinals on ESPN, which were the most-watched NIT games in seven years, the full NIT quarterfinals averaged 723,000 viewers — up 27% from last year (571K).
Earlier in the night, ESPN2 averaged 152,000 for High Point-Seattle U in the CBI championship — up 21% from Charlotte-Eastern Kentucky last year (126K).
Elsewhere, Miami Open tennis topped out at 199,000 for Jessica Pegula’s loss to Ekaterina Alexandrova.
Beyond live sports, ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption averaged 854,000 — surpassing the previous day to rank as the most-watched edition of the show since the day after the Super Bowl.
Wednesday, March 27 sports ratings
Updated chart:
Original chart below:
