In a mixed week of NBA viewership, the Celtics-Lakers rivalry took a hit and the Martin Luther King Day slate bounced back. Plus: the latest figures for the new leagues TGL and Unrivaled, and other sports ratings of note.
Celtics-Lakers takes hit; MLK Day slate up big sans-NFL
Thursday’s Celtics-Lakers NBA regular season game averaged 1.2 million viewers across TNT and truTV, down 13% from Warriors-Kings last year (1.39M), with the caveat that coverage overlapped with a delayed Heat-Bucks game that pushed the start exclusively to truTV. Heat-Bucks, which began an hour later than scheduled, averaged 1.05 million — down 24% from Celtics-Heat a year ago (1.39M).
In other action, Monday’s Martin Luther King Day doubleheader averaged 973,000 viewers on TNT and truTV, the highest for TNT’s MLK slate in four years — since the last time there were no football games on the holiday.
Celtics-Warriors drew 1.32 million and Timberwolves-Grizzlies 671,000, up 158% and 94% respectively from last year’s pairing of Spurs-Hawks and Grizzlies-Warriors, which faced unexpected competition from a rescheduled NFL playoff game.
Rounding out the recent slate, ESPN averaged 1.17 million for Timberwolves-Mavericks and 1.09 million for Warriors-Kings Wednesday, down 30% and up 80% respectively from last year’s overlapping games on ABC (Suns-Mavericks: 1.68M) and ESPN (Thunder-Spurs: 604K). On Tuesday, TNT and truTV drew 979,000 for Knicks-Nets (-1%) and 840,000 for Sixers-Nuggets (-36%). Last Friday, ESPN drew 1.15 million for Magic-Celtics and 1.13 million (-43%) for Grizzlies-Spurs (-4%).
TGL audience relatively youthful through three weeks
TGL, the new golf league backed by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, is averaging 869,000 viewers through three weeks — up 50% from the comparable ESPN college basketball windows last year (580K). The series through three weeks has a median age of 51, young by sports television standards, and especially so by the standards of golf.
Per TGL, only the NBA has a lower median age among major sports properties (50).
The latest edition this past Tuesday averaged 682,000, up 50% from a Texas-Oklahoma game in the same window last year (456K). As one would expect, viewership trailed both the debut telecast two weeks earlier (919K) and the prior week’s window, which featured Woods (1.0M).
Unrivaled still outpacing other women’s leagues in early going
The latest edition of the new women’s basketball league Unrivaled averaged 184,000 viewers on TNT and truTV Monday night, a window that had a lead-in from the NBA but aired directly opposite the CFP National Championship. Viewership peaked in the first quarter-hour at 285,000.
Last Saturday’s coverage averaged 100,000 exclusively on truTV, peaking at 132,000 in the first quarter-hour.
Through the first week, Unrivaled is averaging 204,000 viewers across TNT and truTV, a figure that exceeds NWSL games on the ESPN networks last season. Not counting games involving Caitlin Clark, that average is not far off last year’s WNBA audience on cable (210K) but far below that average if games on NBA TV are excluded (479K).
Plus: NHL, college hoops, PGA Tour
— Wednesday’s Panthers-Kings NHL regular season game averaged 151,000 viewers across TNT and truTV, down 36% from Blackhawks-Kraken a year ago. There was no early window due to soccer coverage.
— Leading out of NFL Divisional Round coverage, last Saturday’s Duke-Boston College men’s college basketball game averaged 886,000 viewers on ESPN, down 14% from UFC in the same post-NFL window last year (1.03M). ESPN fared better with its Alabama-Kentucky game earlier in the day, which at 1.61 million nearly doubled Baylor-Texas last year (821K).
— Final round coverage of the PGA Tour American Express averaged 232,000 viewers on Golf Channel last Sunday, down 57% from last year’s 534,000.
