A star-studded NBA matchup topped the sports viewership charts for Wednesday, February 14.
Wednesday’s Clippers-Warriors NBA regular season game averaged 1.32 million viewers on ESPN, up 4% from Pelicans-Lakers on the same night last year (1.27M). (Compared to Mavericks-Clippers on the equivalent date of last season — February 8 — viewership fell 18% from 1.60 million.)
Earlier in the night, Bulls-Cavaliers averaged 864,000 — down 17% from Cavaliers-Sixers last year (1.04M). (Versus Sixers-Celtics on the equivalent date last season, viewership fell 49% from 1.68 million). The NBA games were the most-watched sporting events of the day.
Placing third, NASCAR Daytona 500 qualifying averaged 821,000 on FS1 — up 3% from 795,000 last year. Daytona 500 media day led in with 201,000 (-19%).
Returning to the hardwood, ESPN2 averaged 532,000 for a Tennessee-Arkansas men’s college basketball game, about even with Arkansas-Texas A&M last year (534K). Miami-Clemson led in with 266,000, less than half of last year’s Alabama-Tennessee game (961K). BTN drew 244,000 for Michigan State-Penn State and 242,000 for Iowa-Maryland. Leading out of NASCAR, Utah State-Wyoming drew 180,000 on FS1.
Elsewhere, a Panthers-Capitals NHL regular season game averaged a combined 336,000 across the traditional broadcast on TNT (294K) and a “Spittin’ Chiclets” simulcast on truTV (42K) — topping last year’s comparable doubleheader of Blackhawks-Maple Leafs (232K) and Avalanche-Wild (241K).
The Kansas City Chiefs’ championship parade averaged 140,000 viewers on NFL Network. That figure is for coverage of the parade itself and not the breaking news that followed — a shooting that killed an attendee and injured 21 others. The Fox Sports 1 show “First Things First” averaged 141,000 on-site from the parade before being cut off for a simulcast of Fox News coverage, which averaged 109,000.
Extended editions of “NFL Live” and “SportsCenter” averaged 343,000 and 429,000 viewers respectively on ESPN. Both shows focused on the shooting.
Finally, the FS1 talk show “Undisputed” averaged 60,000 Wednesday morning, the smallest audience for the show since it returned from hiatus.
Wednesday, February 14 sports ratings
Updated chart (now includes UEFA on CBS):
Original chart below:
