A pair of NBA playoff thrillers delivered mixed results for TNT Monday night.
Monday’s Lakers-Nuggets first round NBA playoff Game 2 averaged 4.25 million viewers across TNT (3.62M) and truTV (636K), down 2% from Warriors-Kings on TNT alone last year (2.5, 4.32M) and the top sportscast of the day.
Sixers-Knicks Game 2 led in with 3.47 million (TNT: 2.95M; truTV: 524K), up 15% from Nets-Sixers a year ago (3.00M). The double-digit increase came despite added competition from Magic-Cavaliers on NBA TV, which drew 381,000. There was no NBA TV game on the equivalent night last year.
The NBA Playoffs is now averaging 3.79 million viewers across ABC, ESPN, TNT and truTV, down 4% from last year (3.96M). The average is 3.45 million including NBA TV.
Shifting to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, ESPN averaged 1.13 million for Maple Leafs-Bruins Game 2 and 777,000 for Golden Knights-Stars Game 1 — up 6 and 61 percent respectively from last year (Panthers-Bruins: 1.07M; Kings-Oilers: 483K). In the competing ESPN2 windows, Islanders-Hurricanes Game 2 drew 556,000 and Kings-Oilers Game 1 had 362,000, down 13 and 35 percent respectively from a year ago (Islanders-Hurricanes: 642K; Wild-Stars: 561K).
The Stanley Cup Playoffs is now averaging 980,000 through three days, up 50% from the first three days last year, which ran Monday-Wednesday and did not include any standalone windows (654K). This year’s postseason opened with six standalone weekend windows.
Further down the dial, MLB Network drew 261,000 for A’s-Yankees and FS1 a mere 127,000 for White Sox-Twins.
Monday, April 22 sports ratings
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Original chart below:
