A pair of dramatic NBA games topped the sports viewership charts for Tuesday, December 19.
Tuesday’s overtime Celtics-Warriors NBA regular season game averaged 1.82 million viewers on TNT, up from an overtime Celtics-Lakers game in the same window last year (1.70M) and the most-watched game outside of the In-Season Tournament since the night before Thanksgiving (Bucks-Celtics: 2.03M; Warriors-Suns: 2.00M).
Earlier in the night, Grizzlies-Pelicans — which featured Ja Morant hitting a game-winning shot in his first game back from suspension — averaged 1.43 million, down 6% from Warriors-Bucks a year ago (1.51M). As usual, the two NBA games were the most-watched sporting events of the day.
In other action, the UTSA-Marshall Frisco Bowl averaged 987,000 viewers on ESPN — down 4% from last year, when the game aired on a Saturday night (1.03M) and the smallest audience for the bowl since 2016 (Tulsa-Central Michigan: 794K). Leading into the game, Florida-Michigan averaged 870,000 in college basketball’s Jumpman Invitational — nearly quadruple Oklahoma-North Carolina on ESPN2 in a later window last year (226K).
As for the women’s portion of the Jumpman Invitational, North Carolina-Oklahoma chipped in 102,000 viewers on ESPN2 — less-than-half of last year’s 211,000 for Michigan-North Carolina in an earlier window.
In other college basketball action, Virginia-Memphis averaged 329,000 viewers on ESPN2, Marquette-Providence 216,000 on FS1, Morehead State-Indiana 160,000 on BTN, and Georgetown-Butler 152,000 on FS1.
Tuesday, December 19 sports ratings
Updated chart:
Original chart below:
