ABC scored a pair of declines for the NBA and a pair of gains for the NHL over the weekend; the PGA Tour Phoenix Open rebounded from last year’s low.
Down weekend for NBA on ABC; Luka debut numbers delayed
Saturday’s Celtics-Knicks NBA regular season game averaged 2.42 million viewers on ABC, down 6% from Suns-Warriors last year (2.57M). Compared to the teams’ meeting on ABC’s Saturday night package last season, which took place later in February, viewership increased 9% from 2.22 million.
On Sunday, ABC averaged 1.58 million for Sixers-Bucks — the final broadcast in the career of Hubie Brown — down 26% from Celtics-Heat last year (2.13M).
In other action, ESPN averaged 1.39 million for Pacers-Lakers on Saturday, a game that it added to the schedule in anticipation of Luka Doncic’s Laker debut. Doncic missed that game, but debuted for the Lakers Monday night against Utah, which was also added to ESPN. Figures for that game were delayed by Nielsen.
ESPN also drew 952,000 for Sixers-Pistons on Friday, a rare single game window. The network dropped its planned Suns-Jazz nightcap in favor of the aforementioned Pacers-Lakers game on Saturday. There was no comparable window last year.
ABC sets new NHL season high with Golden Knights-Bruins
ABC averaged 1.27 million viewers for Saturday’s Golden Knights-Bruins NHL regular season game, marking the largest audience of the NHL season and the second-most watched regular season game on the ESPN networks — excluding outdoor games and Opening Night — since they resumed airing NHL games in 2021.
Viewership jumped 41% from Capitals-Bruins in the same window last year (901K).
Lightning-Red Wings led in with 934,000 — up 32% from 709,000 for Blues-Sabres a year ago — with the full doubleheader averaging 1.1 million.
PGA Phoenix Open final round up from last year’s low
Final round coverage of the PGA Tour Phoenix Open averaged 2.874 million viewers on CBS, up 21% from last year on NBC — when viewership was the lowest in more than a decade (2.38M) — but down 22% from the last time it aired on CBS two years ago (3.67M).
Viewership topped only last year as the lowest for final round coverage of the event since 2020, when Webb Simpson’s playoff win encroached into the Super Bowl timeslot (2.867M).
CBS is averaging 2.11 million viewers for PGA Tour windows this season, up 36% from a year ago.
