On a down night for playoff sporting events, a pair of NBA routs topped the sports viewership charts.
Wednesday’s Mavericks-Clippers first round NBA playoff Game 5 averaged 3.18 million viewers across TNT (2.80M) and truTV (378K), down 26% from Warriors-Kings last year (4.29M), but still the top sportscast of the day.
Heat-Celtics Game 5 led in with 2.86 million (TNT: 2.46M; truTV: 397K), down 27% from Lakers-Grizzlies a year ago (3.89M). Boston and Dallas won by 34 and 30 points respectively.
NBA playoff games were averaging 3.05 million viewers through Wednesday, down 5% from the same point last year. Excluding NBA TV, the average of 3.36 million is down 9% from 3.68 million a year ago.
Outside of the NBA, the day’s top sportscast was the first leg of the UEFA Champions League semifinal between Borussia Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain at a combined 1.26 million viewers across CBS (782K) and Univision (473K).
Shifting to the NHL playoffs, ESPN averaged 1.22 million for Golden Knights-Stars and 803,000 for Kings-Oilers in a Game 5 doubleheader — down 17 and 30 percent respectively from last year’s doubleheader of Panthers-Bruins (1.47M) and Kraken-Avalanche (1.15M).
Further down the dial, MLB Network averaged 247,000 for a primetime regional window (Yankees-Orioles or Rockies-Marlins), followed by 137,000 for late night action (Dodgers-Diamondbacks or Guardians-Astros) and preceded by a pair of afternoon windows at 106,000 and 114,000. Shifting to the college game, Mississippi-Mississippi State drew 125,000 on ESPN2.
Wednesday, May 1 sports ratings
Updated chart (includes UEFA on CBS):
Original chart below:
