A matchup of the undefeated Cavaliers and defending champion Celtics gave TNT a boost Tuesday night; plus: final viewership estimates for the Tyson-Paul fight, and the latest numbers from UFC.
Cavs-C’s scores double-digit increase on TNT
Tuesday’s Cavaliers-Celtics NBA regular season game, a rare matchup of a 15-0 team against a defending NBA champion, averaged a 1.1 rating and 1.94 million viewers across TNT and truTV — marking the third-largest NBA audience since Opening Night. The Celtics’ win, which peaked with 2.7 million viewers, increased 25% from Cavaliers-Sixers on the same night last year (1.55M).
Later in the night, Thunder-Spurs averaged a 0.7 and 1.25 million — down 16% from Jazz-Lakers a year ago (1.49M). Spurs C Victor Wembanyama did not play due to injury.
TNT is now averaging 1.77 million viewers for its first four NBA Cup games this season, up 34% from its first four such games last season.
Tyson-Paul fight averages 108 million globally, per Netflix
Saturday’s boxing event between 58-year-old Mike Tyson and influencer Jake Paul averaged a worldwide audience of 108 million viewers on Netflix, the company said this week, making it the most-streamed sporting event on record. (Netflix previously announced that the fight averaged 60 million households, a figure that is distinct from the number of viewers.)
Netflix is sourcing the third-party measurement company TVision — a Nielsen competitor that boasts its own panel and methodology — for the average minute audience. For those wondering whether TVision data is comparable to that of Nielsen, Nielsen itself seems to think so, having filed multiple patent infringement lawsuits against the company (among a whopping nine suits Nielsen has filed in the past three years against competing measurement companies, per Ad Exchanger.)
Per Netflix, TVision estimates that the fight accounted for 56% of all viewing in the Midnight ET hour on Saturday morning.
In a preliminary fight, Katie Taylor’s win over Amanda Cerrano averaged a U.S. audience of 74 million per TVision, which Netflix says is the largest American audience ever for a women’s professional sporting event. (Keep in mind that excludes amateur events like the 1994 Winter Olympics figure skating competition, which averaged nearly 79 million per Nielsen).
UFC 309 prelims decent enough on FX
Saturday’s UFC 309 prelims from Madison Square Garden averaged a 0.45 rating and 816,000 viewers on FX, down from the previous PPV prelims on Nielsen-measured TV, which aired on ESPN in August (970K).
Compared to the previous PPV prelims to air on a secondary network — July on ESPN2 — viewership increased from 774,000. FX had not previously carried a UFC card in the ESPN era.
UFC came close to the college football game airing on ESPN in the same window (Arizona State-Kansas State: 849K).
