Klay Thompson’s return to the Bay Area keyed a strong start to the NBA Cup. Plus: college basketball’s Champions Classic had a modest increase in viewership; college volleyball neared a season-high on NBC.
Buoyed by Thompson’s return to Bay, NBA Cup starts strong on TNT
Tuesday’s Mavericks-Warriors NBA Cup group stage game, which marked Mavericks G Klay Thompson’s first game against his former team, averaged 2.14 million viewers on TNT — the network’s most-watched NBA game since Opening Night. Including ESPN, the Warriors have played in the two most-watched games since Opening Night, with their matchup against the Celtics last week also drawing 2.14 million.
The Warriors’ narrow win, which peaked with 2.6 million viewers at the outset, increased 84% from Clippers-Nuggets last year (1.17M). It was the top sportscast of a night that included the college basketball Champions Classic.
Earlier in the night, Knicks-Sixers averaged 1.71 million — up 58% from Spurs-Thunder a year ago (1.08M). Overall, the doubleheader averaged 1.9 million (+71%).
Champions Classic sees modest growth
The annual college basketball Champions Classic averaged a 0.9 rating and 1.64 million viewers on ESPN Tuesday night, flat in ratings and up 7% from last year (0.9, 1.52M), but down 13% and 11% respectively from 2022 (1.0, 1.83M).
Duke-Kentucky led the way with a 1.0 and 1.84 million, up 18% and 20% respectively from Kentucky-Kansas last year (0.9, 1.53M). The Wildcats’ win, which peaked with 2.1 million viewers, posted the second-largest Champions Classic audience in the past four years.
Michigan State-Kansas led in with a 0.8 and 1.41 million, down 12% and 7% respectively from last year’s Duke-Michigan State game (0.9, 1.51M). Airing between the games, the College Football Playoff Rankings Show had a 1.0 (flat) and 1.81 million (+5%).
In other college basketball action, last Friday’s North Carolina-Kansas game drew a 0.6 and 1.12 million on ESPN2 — the second-largest regular season audience on ESPN2 since 2018.
College volleyball nears season-high in latest NBC window
Saturday’s Wisconsin-Penn State college volleyball match averaged 672,000 viewers on NBC, trailing only Nebraska-Louisville on ABC in September (684K) as the most-watched telecast of the season. NBC previously drew 514,000 for Nebraska-Ohio State and 421,000 for Wisconsin-Purdue in back-to-back weeks last month.
The six college volleyball matches on broadcast television this season — three on NBC, two on FOX and one on ABC — have unsurprisingly been the six most-watched.
